DJ, Ease My Mind
by Skyler Samuels
Summary: Fletcher Quimby just wants to play lacrosse and land a date with beautiful Olive Doyle, but a werewolf bite has left him with supernatural powers he cannot control. With the help from his best friend and a mysterious local werewolf, Fletcher struggles to keep his identity a secret, outrun werewolf hunters and survive high school. Folive. Catcher friendship. Lolive friendship. Lad.
1. The New Girl

_**Trilogy One - DJ, Ease My Mind **_

**Fletcher Quimby - Scott McCall **

**Olive Doyle - Allison Argent **

**Cameron Parks - Stiles Stilinski **

**Lexi Reed - Lydia Martin **

**Chad (He was mentioned by Lexi at some point in season 3) - Jackson Whitmore **

**Keith (Paisley and Lexi's boyfriend; he has not dated either girl) - Derek Hale**

_Ages: _

_Fletcher: 16 (Trilogy 1-2), 17 (3)_

_Olive: 16 (Trilogy 1), 17 (1/2 of Trilogy One - Trilogy 2 & 3)_

_Cameron: 16 (1-2), 17 (3) _

_Lexi: 16 (1 - 1/2 2), 17 (1/2 2 - 3) _

_Chad: 17 (1-2)_

_Keith: 25 (1-2), 26 (3)_

_**A/N: Instead of living in San Francisco, they will be living in Auburn Hills, Michigan.**_

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter One: The New Girl <strong>

On the rural outskirts of a small Michigan town called Auburn Hills, police officers and State Troopers gather on a dirt road. At their sides, search dogs bark and whine, pulling their leashes taut. One by one, the Officers click on flashlights and then glance to the lead officer for his signal. Finally, he gives a nod. Seconds later, a dozen streaks of llight tear through the shadowy woods and a desperate search begun.

Not far from those dense woods, a two-story home lies hidden under a canopy of trees. A gentle wind drifts into the open widow of an upstairs bedroom where two hands thread the laces on the head of a Lacrosse stick. The work is fast and precise, fingers pulling each lace into a diamond mesh pattern. Knotting the last loop, sixteen year-old Fletcher Quimby stands with the re-threaded stick.

Dressed in only a pair of athletic shorts, his lithe frame may still have some filling out to do, but it's easy to see that he'll soon grow into strikingly handsome young man with deep blueish green eyes designed to melt the hearts of hopeful young girls.

Scooping up a ball up from his bedroom floor, he gives the lacrosse stick a spin, testing his handiwork. A moment later, the re-threaded stick lands next to a school backpack while Fletcher pumps out a few chin-ups at the bar mounted in the doorway of his closet.

Then, toothbrush in his mouth, he reaches for the window sill to pull it down, but he stops when he hears a sound. Under the whispering wind, he hears movement along with a strange shuffling noise.

Fletcher silently slips into the hallway and peers into another bedroom. His mother, late thirties, both remarkably strong and beautiful, sleeps over the covers of the bed, fully clothed as if she'd just passed out after having walked in. Fletcher eases her door shut.

The glass door to the porch slides open and now armed with a baseball bat, Fletcher starts for the yard. Breath held tight, he moves cautiously off the porch steps. The sound of movement stops him cold.

Holding still, he peers left and right as he white-knuckles the bat, ready to swing. When his eyes wander up to the side of the house, he sees a dark figure climbing the vine-wrapped trellis. Before Fletcher even knows what's happening, the figure breaks free and comes hurtling towards.

Fletcher hollers in terror as an upside own appears in front of him. He almost swings the bad before realizing who it is. "Cameron, what the hell are you doing?"

"You weren't answering your phone!" Cameron exclaimed. Noticing the bat, he asks, "Why do you have a bat?"

"I thought you were a predator."

"A pre..." Cameron laughs. Feet caught in the trellis, Cameron hangs in front of Fletcher. Cameron Parks, a sixteen year-old with boundless energy, continues talking upside down as if this were a perfectly normal way to have a conversation. "I know it's late, but you got to hear this. I saw my dad leave twenty minutes ago. Dispatch called; they're bringing in every officer from the Auburn Department and even State Police.

"For what?" Fletcher questioned.

"Two joggers found a body in the woords."

"A dead body?"

"No, a body of water. Yes, a dead body." Cameron sarcastically spoke. Reaching up to pull himself free of the trellis, he lands on his feet in front of Fletcher.

"You mean like murdered?"

"Nobody knows yet. They just know that it was a girl, probably in her twenties."

"Hold on," Fletcher stopped. "If they found a body, what are they looking for next?"

"That's the best part, they only found _**half**_." Cameron smirked and smacked his lips, full of excitement. "We're going."

A beat-up jeep skids to a halt just beyond the heavily wooded entrance to the Auburn Hills Preserve. Cameron gets out with a flashlight in hand. Fletcher follows, hurrying to keep up with him as he charges into the hiking paths.

"Are you seriously doing this?" Fletcher quizzed.

Cameron replies, "You're the one always saying that nothing ever happens in this town. Besides, it's our last night of summer freedom."

"I was trying to get a good night's sleep for practice tomorrow."

"Right, because sitting on the beach is such a grueling effort."

"No," Fletcher denied. "I'm playing this year. In fact, I'm going to make starting lineup."

"That's the spirit!" Cameron exclaimed sarcastically. "Everyone should have a dream, even a pathetically realistic one."

"Just out of curiousity, which half of the body are we looking for?" Fletcher wondered.

"Huh, I didn't even think about that."

"And what if whoever killed the girl is still out here?" Fletcher quiried.

"That's also something I didn't think about." Cameron admitted.

"It's comforting to know you've planned this out with your usual attention to detail." Fletcher uttered sarcastically. Racing up the paths, Fletcher's breath begins to shorten. "Maybe the severe asthmatic should be the one holding the flashlight."

Cameron slows, but not because of Fletcher. Outside a clearing, yellow police tape marks off a perimeter underfloodlights. Grinning, Cameron looks to Fletcher who can't help, but smile back. Crouching low, they circle the crime scene looking for the best vantage point, but they freeze at the sound of a zipper being pulled up on a body bag. Two bare feet are momentarily visible as the zipper pulls closed and officers lift the body bag up into the Medical Examiner's van.

"Is that the second half of the body?" Fletcher asked.

"No, they would have called off the search. Come on." He and Fletcher retreat from the perimeter back into the dark of the woods. As they crest a hill, Cameron pauses. Below, flashlight beams scour the shadows, the police search just ahead. Unable to stand still, Cameron races forward.

"Cameron, wait up!" Fletcher shouted.

But quickly running out of air, Fletcher pulls his inhaler from his jacket. While he pauses to take a hit from it, Cameron disappears up ahead. Then, realizing he's left Fletcher behind, he slows to look back when barking spins him around. Fanged teeth snap ferociously at him, sending him staggering away and falling right onto his butt. Search dogs yank back against their leashes just before tearing him apart.

"Stay right there!" Fletcher freezes. It's not him the State Trooper was yelling at, however. Peering out from behind a tree, he sees Cameron has run right into a search party. Flashlight beams in his eyes, the boy puts his hands in the air as large, threatening figures hurry forward.

"Hang on, hang on, this little delinquent belongs to me." Deputy Darryl Parks steps into the light past the growling search dogs. Cameron shrinks under his glare. "Son, do you listen in on all of my phone calls?"

"No, not the boring ones." Cameron admitted.

"And where's your usual partner in crime?"

"Who? Fletcher? Fletcher's home. He said wanted to get a good night's sleep for the first day back at school."

"Fletcher, are you out there?!" Darryl calls out. Hidden in the shadows, Fletcher doesn't move. Stills suspicious, Darryl turns to Cameron who is now standing. "Alright, young man, I'm taking you back to your car and we're going to discuss a little something called _Invasion of Privacy_."

Watching Cameron get escorted away, Fletcher steps out from the cover of the trees with an irritated sigh. Starting back, he tries to find his way out of the woods, but with each step it becomes increasingly difficult to see in the pitch black. At a fork in the path, he pauses in confusion. He's about to start off down one direction when he hears a rustling among the trees.

Fletcher holds still. Breath tightening more from fear than asthma, he reaches into his pocket for his inhaler when he hears an odd rumbling. The sound of sudden and furious movement rising in volumeand velocity until half a dozen deer charge out of the darkness, soaring past him with the thunderous beat of hooves trampling the ground. Startled, Fletcher drops the inhaler.

Then, once again alone in the dark, he kneels down to the leaf-covered ground to search for the inhaler. Pulling out his cell phone, he lights the display. Guiding the phone's light over the ground, Fletcher doesn't find his inhaler, but does manage to briefly illuminate a face.

Dead eyes peer up from the pale, yet beauitful face of a young woman torn in half. Crying out in shock, Fletcher lurches up, tripping on his own feet and tumblin gover the unearthed roots of a tree. Suddenly, he's propelled down a leaf-covered slope, rolling head over heels right into a creek bed.

Pushing himself from the icy water, a breathless Fletcher looks up at the embankment down which he just fell. He's about to stand when a low growl stops him moving, breathing. _**Something**_ crouches in the shadows near him. Something very large.

Fletcher slowly begins to turn around when a shape hurtles toward him. For the briefest instant, there's a flash of razor-sharp teeth. Fletcher twists forward, crying out. Then, seeming to disentangle himself from the attacking animal, he scrambles back to his feet and into a panicked run.

Whipping through branches tearing at his skin and clothes, he races blindly through the forest until he reaches a barbed wire fence.

With barely a second to coordinate his effort, Fletcher lurches over the wire, shirt catching and tearing across the barbs.

Crashing out of the woods and into the road, Fletcher whirls around to face an oncoming car. The driver swerves, almost clipping him. Horn blaring, the car hurtles past.

Breathless, Fletcher backs away from the woods. With the world spinning around him, dark blood sticks his tattered shirt to his back over a deep and vicious looking bite. Struggling for calm, he whips around when he hears the strangest sound; the howling of a wolf.

It echoes through the hills, over the trees, across the rooftops and into the night.

* * *

><p>A school bell rings in the crowded hallway. At their lockers, Fletcher takes off his backpack and pulls his shirt up a few inches to show Cameron the bandage on his lower abdomen. "It was too dark to see much, but I'm pretty sure it was a wolf."<p>

"A wolf bit you? No, there's not a chance." Cameron denied his best friend's theory.

"I heard a wolf howling."

"No, you didn't."

"What do you mean "No, I didn't?" How do you know what I heard?" Fletcher questioned.

"Michigan doesn't have wolves. They haven't had wolves for the last sixty years."

"Really?"

"Yes, really! There are no wolves in Michigan!"

"Well, if you don't belive me about the wolf, then you're definitely not going to believe me when I tell you I saw the body." Fletcher said.

Cameron almost jumped with excitement, "You what? Are you kidding me?"

"I wish. I'm going to have nightmares about it for a month.

"That's freaking awesome. This is seriously the best thing that's happened to this town since..." Cameron looks past Fletcher. "...since the birth of Lexi Reed, who's walking toward us right now."

A drop-dead gorgeous junior named Lexi Reed walks the corridor like it was a fasion show runway in Milan. "Hey Lexi, how are you? You look..." Cameron pauses right after "...like your going to ignore me." Fletcher begins to laugh and Cameron looks back at him, "You're the cause of this, you know. Dragging me down to your nerd depths. I'm a nerd by association. I've been Scarlet-nerded by you."

Blending into the crowd, they head to first period.

Fletcher takes the seat next to Cameron as the teacher, Mr. Curtis walks in. "As you all know by know, there was indeed a body found in the woods last night. I'm sure your eager little minds are coming up with all sorts of macabre scenarios as to how it happened, but I've been told that the police already have a suspect in custody." Mr. Curtis speaks. Fletcher looks to Cameron who shrugs, news to him as well. "A vagrant with a long history of psychiatric disorders was found camping out in the woods near where the body was found which means your undivided attention can be given to the syllabus outlining the semester on your desks. Read it now, and by read, I don't mean skim."

The sound of paper pages flipping rumblues toward Fletcher as students start reading. It's strangely loud, causing his ears to twitch, especially when a cell phone rings.

He glances up. The other students quietly read the syllabus. Fletcher appears to be the only one to be the only one noticing the ringing. Gazing about, he can't seem to find the source until his eyes fall on the windows of the classroom.

Outside, across the quad, Fletcher sees Olive Doyle, sixteen and raidiating with an innocent beauty. When she puts a cell phone up to her ear, it becomes obvious that, despite the closed windows and the distance, this is the ringing Fletcher is somehow able to hear. More astonishingly, Fletcher can hear both Olive and her caller, their voices echoing with a tinny effect.

_"Mom, three calls on my first day is a little overdoing it." _

**"Just making sure you're there okay and you've got everything you need," **Olive's mom responded on the other end. But Olive digs through her bag, becoming alarmed.

_"I have everything except a pen. Oh, my God, I didn't actually forget a pen." _

**"Don't panic. I'm sure you can borrow one from another student." **Mrs. Doyle responded.

_"Okay, I gotta go. Love you." _Unable to take his eyes off the extraordinary girl, Fletcher watches the school's principal join her on the steps.

_**"Sorry to keep you waiting. So, you were saying San Francisco isn't were you grew up?" **_The principal guides her across the quad, their conversation becoming clearer to Fletcher with every step.

_"No, but we stayed for more than a year which is unusual in my family. We kind of bounce around a lot becuase of my dad's work." _Even when Olive and the Principal disappear from view, Fletcher hears the clatter of the building door opening, the clicking of their heels on the tile floor.

_**"Well, hopefully, Auburn Hills is your last stop for a while." **_The door opens, causing the rest of the class to look up. "Class, this is our new student Olive Doyle. Please do your best to make her feel welcome."

Fletcher barely breathes as Olive heads for the one empty desk left in the room; _right behind him_. She puts her notebook down and glaces up to see Fletcher turned toward her holding out a pen. With a relieved, but curious smile, she takes it from him.

"Thanks." Fletcher gives her a nod. Turning around, his gaze focuses on Cameron's desk where his friend's sunglasses sit. In the mirrored lenses, Fletcher can see Olive reflected behind him and he can't take his eyes off her.

"Okay, let's begin with Kafka's Metamorphosis."

* * *

><p>Silence, then the doors of the cafeteria push open. As Fletcher steps in, the cacophony of high school lunch period slams into him. Every sound assaults him with pin-drop clarity. Cameron asks, "Are you alright?"<p>

Overwhelmed, Fletcher doesn't even hear Cameron.. His hands come up to his ears to cover them when he sees Olive across the room, paying for her food. The cashier breaks a roll of quarters, but the coins spill to the floor. Olive immediately kneels to help the embarrassed casier, giving a good-hearted smile to the grateful woman while the other students just stand by, waiting impatiently.

Then Olive notices Fletcher and they connect eyes. Somehow just this look from her seems to return his hearing to normal. She starts to smile back, recognizing him. But then Lexi Reed woops in front of her, "That jacket is absolutely skiller. Where did you get it?"

"My Mom was a buyer for a boutique in San Francisco."

"You're my new best friend. You're sitting with me." Taking Olive by the arm, she guides her to the popular table. Chad Whitmore, Lexi's boyfriend, pulls her toward his lap, but she brushes him off, still talking to Olive.

A few tables away, Fletcher sits with Cameron and their friend, Rebecca Harlow, better known as Harley. "Can somebody tell me how the New Girl is here all of five minutes and she's already at Lexi's table?"

"Because she's hot," Cameron argued. "Beautiful people herd together."

"Is that why Lexi isn't herding with you?" Harley spoke.

"Lexi's a long term project, okay? And trust me, I've got all the patience in the world for a high yield investment like her."

"Well, I don't think New Girl's that pretty." Harley turns to Fletcher. "Fletcher, do you think she's pretty? Fletcher?"

He doesn't even blink, attention consumed by Olive. "I'd take that as a yes," Cameron smirks.

Head cocked slightly, Fletcher tunes in the conversation across the room, voices coming into focus.

_"A party?" _Olive asked.

**"It's Friday night. We could go together" **

_"I can't. It's Family Night this Friday. But thanks for asking." _

**"You sure? Everyone's going after the scrimmage game."**

_"You mean like football?" _

**"Football's a joke at Auburn Hills High. The sport here is Lacrosse. We won the state championship the last three hears." **

_**"Because of a certain team caption," **_Lexi smiled, talking about Chad.

**"Every season starts with a scrimmage to decide the new first string. Do you ever watch Lacrosse?" **

_"I'm actually not sure how it's played othr, than - well, violently." _

Cameron notices Fletcher watching Lexi's table intently. Not merely staring, but seeming to listen.

**"Maybe you should just come see for yourself. We have practice today. You don't have to be anywhere after school, do you?" **Chad asked.

_"Well, no..." _

_**"Perfect," **_Lexi interrupted. _**"You're coming."**_

* * *

><p>A whistle blows and the Lacrosse team's Assistant Coach gathers the team on the field, Cameron and Fletcher lagging behind. "Just think about this. If you play, I'll have no one to talk to on the bench. Are you really gonna do that to your best friend?" Cameron quizzed.<p>

"I can't sit out again. My whole life is sitting on the sidelines. This season, I make first string." Reaching for the field, he pauses to notice Lexi climbing the bleachers, and stepping right behind her is Olive.

"Quimby! You're on goal!" Coach Gibson shouts. Fletcher trots over to the Coach, a man with little comprehension of the difficulties of teenage life.

"But I never played goal." Fletcher stated.

"I know, but scoring some shots will give the boys a confidence boost. It's a first day back thing. Get them energized, jazzed up."

"What about me?"

"Try not to take any in the face."

Stepping into the net, Fletcher glances to the bleachers where Olive watches with Lexi, eyes focusing on them. _"Him? I'm not sure who he is. Why?" _

_"He's in my English class." _Fletcher looks up, shocked to hear Olive asking about him, but with his hearing momentarily turned up, he flinches at the sound at the whistle blow, sound ringing through his skull.

One of the bigger players charges forward as the Assistant Coach passes the ball to him. Catching it, he whips his stick forward, hurling the ball toward the goal. Still reeling from the whistle, Fletcher looks up too late to see the ball soaring toward him. It bounces right off his helmet and into the net.

The team laughs wickedly, even the Coach snickers. Cheeks burning under his mask, Fletcher steals himself for the next player. When the whistle blows again, he's ready. The Assistant Coach passes the ball to the player who catches it and fires it right at the goal.

Fletcher moves startingly fast, almost an instantaneous reaction, then he notices the player staring at him with a mixture of disappointment and suprise. Fletcher has the ball."

He caught it. When the next player takes the shot, Fletcher catches the ball again, and then again, and again. Nothing can get past him. In the bleachers, Olive and Lexi sit forward. Olive compliments, "He seems like he's pretty good."

"Very good," Lexi added. Intrigued, Lexi keeps her gaze locked on Fletcher who now stands with a far more confident posture until Chad pushes to the head of the line. Glaring at Fletcher, he practically strangles the Lacrosse stick with his gloves.

"Oh God," Fletcher muttered. The Assistant Coach tosses the ball up. Chad launches forward, catching the ball and spinning around to fire it at the goal, but Fletcher moves with supernaturual precision. The ball lands right in the pocket of the goalie stick.

Cameron lets out a holler, jumping on the bench. Lexi stands and gives a whoop as well, causing Chad to throw a look at her. She returns his glare with a sly smile, a warning to step up his game.

Grinning, Fletcher gives the goalie stick a whirl, spinning it with a flick of his wrist and sending the ball, soaring right into the pocket of the stunned Assistant Coach's stick.

* * *

><p>In the woods, Fletcher retraces his steps from last night with Cameron following behind him. "I don't know what it was. I mean, I felt like I had all the time in the world to catch the ball. That's not the only weird thing. I mean, I can hear stuff I shouldn't be able to hear, and I can smell things."<p>

"You can smell things like what?" Cameron quizzed.

"Like the mint majito gum in your pocket."

"I don't have any." Cameron pulls out a lint-covered piece of wrapped gum. He continues. "All this started with the bite?"

"What if it's an infection? What if my body is flooding with adrenaline before I fall into shock. I knew I should've gone to the E.R."

"I've actually heard of this. It's a specific kind of infection."

Fletcher queried, "Are you serious?"

"All the symptoms add up. I think it's called _Lycanthropy_." Cameron teased.

"What's that? Is it bad? It sounds bad."

"It is, but only once a month."

"Once a month?"

"Yeah, once a month on the night of the full moon." Fletcher looks at him and then gets that Cameron is just messing with him. He punches him on the arm.

"You're a jerk."

"Hey, you're the one who heard a wolf howling."

"There could be something seriously wrong with me."

"I know! You're werewolf!" Cameron exclaims and chuckles. "Okay, obviously, I'm kidding, but if you see me in shop class melting down all the silver I can find, it's because Friday's a full moon."

Fletcher glances around, "I swear this was it. The body was here. The deer came running, I dropped my inhaler..."

"Maybe the killer moved the body."

"If he did, I hope he left my inhaler. Those things are like eighty bucks."

Cameron taps him on the arm, bringing his attention to a figure standing just a few yards away. Keith Hale, nineteen and unquestionably handsome. He has a rougher look than the cleanly shaven Auburn Hills boys.

"What are you doing?" Keith asked bitterly. Both Fletcher and Cameron are too stunned to speak at first. Keith continues. "This is private property."

"Sorry, we didn't know." Cameron apologized.

Fletcher is the next to speak up, "We were just looking for something. Forget it. Sorry to bother you." As they're turning to go, Keith tosses an object to Fletcher; his inhaler. When he looks up, Keith is already walking away. Fletcher continues. "Come on. I have to get to work."

"Dude," Cameron stopped him. "That was Keith Hale. You remember, right? He's only a few years older than us."

"Remember what?"

"His family, they all burned to death in a fire six years ago. I remember the cops pulling him out to tell him." Cameron explained.

"I wonder what he's doing back." Fletcher eyes the inhaler in his hand, closing his fist over it.

* * *

><p>Inside the town's lone veterinary clinic, Fletcher flips the sign on the door to CLOSED and then grabs a few packages off the reception desk. The door to a storage room opens into the the corridor. Fletcher backs out, hauling a huge bag of kitty litter. Setting it against the wall, he takes out a set of keys and unlocks the next door, but just before pulling it open, he pauses, hand gripping the doorknob as he listens to the utterly silent clinic. And then he hears it; the pattering drops of rain on the roof.<p>

Fletcher twists the knob and opens the door. He barely has a foot inside the room when the cages filled with cats come alive with activity. The frightened felines suddenly bare their teeth, hissing and clawing frantically at the cage doors. All of them focused on Fletcher, their backs arched, struck with absolute terror. Stunned, he staggers out of the room, slamming the door shut.

Retreating back into the waiting froom, Fletcher can still hear the pandemonium coming from inside when a a hammering spins him around. Standing outside and banging on the glass door with her fist is Olive. Rain-soaked, it's nevertheless easy to see that she's crying and in a visible panic.

Quickly unlocking the door, Fletcher lets her in as she tries to explain though tears what happened. "I didn't see it. I took my eyes off the road for two seconds to switch songs on my iPod and this dog...it came out of nowhere."

"Okay, it's alright." Fletcher soothed. "Do you remember where it happened so I can send out animal control to find it?"

"No...I mean yes, I know where I hit it, but the dog..."

"Right, where is it?" Fletcher asked.

"It's in my car."

Following Olive to her car under the now drizzling rain. Fletcher opens the back seat door to reveal an injured stray. Hackles raised, the frightened lab mix is clearly in pain. Olive reaches in to pick him up, but the dog snaps at her. She flinches back, steping right into Fletcher's arms."

"You okay?" She nods, looking up at Fletcher behind her, his hands on her forearms, fingers lightly touching her soft skin. Fletcher continues, "He's just frightened."

"That makes two of us." Olive remarked.

"Let me see if I have better luck." Letting her go, Fletcher steps toward the open door, oddly calm. As he connects eyes with the dog, something happens. Sound drops out around him, all except for the dog's nervous panting. Then it's harsh gasps begin to ease as some sort of primal communication occurs between then. For the briefest moment, his eyes take on a strangely yellow tint, like that of a wolf.

In response, the dog lowers it's body submissively, yielding to the obviously dominant animal. With Olive watching in amazement, Fletcher gathers the dog into his arms and carries him into the vet's office.

Inside, Fletcher gently lays the injured animal down on the examining table. Olive stays back, watchinng him inspect the dog while petting it, doing an expert job of calming it.

"I think his leg is broken. I can splint it now myself, give him a painkiller and then let the doctor take a look in the morning." Fletcher spoke. Olive steals a glance at him, looking on with admiration as he worked. But Fletcher doesn't notice, terrified to glance at the beautiful girl. When he finally does look up, he sees she's hugging herself, soaked and obviously freezing. Fletcher continues, "I have a T-shirt in my bag."

"Oh, no, it's okay." But Fletcher is already reaching into his bag for the shirt. Olive takes it with a smile. When she steps into the hall for privacy, Fletcher can't help her reflection in the wall mirror. As she's pulling the wet shirt off, he catches sight of her bare back. Looking away, Fletcher notices the dog staring up at him.

"What?" Fletcher whispers. "I didn't see anything."

The dog doesn't look convinced. Olive comes back into the room, now wearing his shirt nad no longer shivering. "Thanks for doing this. I feel really stupid."

"How come?"

"I don't know...for freaking out like a total girl."

"You _are_ a girl." Fletcher corrected.

"I freaked out like a girly girl, and I am not a girly girl."

"What kind of girl are you?"

Olive chuckled, "I'm tougher than that. At least I thought I was."

"I'd be freaked out to. In fact, I'd probably cry, and not like a man. I'd cry like the girliest girl cry. It would be pathetic."

"Yeah, right." Olive laughs.

Fletcher replies after he finishes wrapping the dog's leg. "So it looks like he's going to live. I'm pretty sure he'll even let you pet him if you want."

"I don't think so." She hesitates.

"Come on. You don't want him to sue. This breed is very litigious." Olive appraoches, tentatively reaching out to stroke the dog's neck. Calm now, the dog even licks her hand. Fletcher continues, "See? He likes you."

He watches Olive, unable to take her eyes off her. She notices his stare, "What?"

"Sorry. You have an eyelash on your cheek."

"Oh, it's from the crying." She wipes at her cheek, but the lash is still there. Fletcher shakes his head. She tries again, but it's still there. So Fletcher reaches with his thumb to brush the lash from her cheek. "Thanks."

He nods, hand coming down like he's not quite sure what to do with it. After that was settled, Fletcher walked Olive outside to her car. He stood there, hesitant to ask the question that kept on bothering him. As he took a glance at the beautiful blonde girl standing in front of him, he started to speak.

"So, um...I was wondering...I mean, is it really Family Night on Friday, or do you think maybe you'd like to go to that party with me?"

"Family Night was a total lie." Olive admitted, looking at him strangely for a second with a small smile on her face.

"So is that a yes, you'll go?"

Olive's smile got a little bigger as she answered, "Definitely yes." She got in the driver's seat of her car and closed the door, driving a way. a huge smile spreads across Fletcher's face.

_**"The wind changed the first day that you came through. Cut the corn, washed it clean,now everything that's ever gone before is like a blur and it's all because of you. Now I find this city's like a stranger to me. Even though the flower fades, something takes it's place like marching band on a sunny day, two pretty eyes or a pretty face. In the forest, I made my home. Lay down on hard and ancient stone, and if my heart should somehow stop. I'll hang on to the hope that you're not too late. That you're not too late." - And if My Heart Should Somehow Stop, James Vincent McMorrow**_


	2. Surprise, You're Dead

Towel around his waist, Fletcher yanks his closet door open and starts tossing clothes onto his bed. "Do you have a big date?" His mom, Melissa Quimby, stands at the door.

Fletcher turns around, "Mom, can I have a little privacy, please?"

"Hold on, what do we have here?" She approaches, feeling his chin with her thumb. "I think it might be time for you to start shaving."

Outside the house, Fletcher and his mom can be heard talking. _"I don't even have a razor."_ Then further down the street, their voices take on the same effect as those that Fletcher could hear when he was listening in on conversations at school.

"_You better borrow one of mine. I'll go get it. Stay right there."_ No less than a hundred yards away, but still within the line of sight of the house, someone stands beside a black Dodge Challenger, listening in on the conversation, Keith Hale.

* * *

><p>In the backyard of a dimly lit house, Fletcher and Olive stand awkwardly among a crowd of drunk and high teenagers. Fletcher peers down at the table with the booze. "So, what do you drink?" Fletcher asks, breaking the awkward silence between them.<p>

"Um...I don't know..."

"Me either, actually. Maybe we should try root beer? Wait here. I'll get the keg." Fletcher walks away after getting a simple "Perfect" from Olive.

Near a blazing fire, Fletcher fills two cups at the crowded keg when a sound of a dog barking catches his attention. A huge Rottweiler is in the yard next door just beyond a chain linked fence, barking at Keith. He stands behind the fire pit, staring straight at Fletcher, but then he shoots a look at Rottweiler. The dog stops barking instantly. With eyes locking on the animal, Keith gives an almost imperceptible no. Tail between its legs, the Rottweiler submissively lowers to a sitting position.

Satisfied, Keith turns back to Fletcher who grips the two overflowing cups in his hands and for the briefest second, Keith's eyes flash blue.

"Dude, are you done?" A party goer asks. Stunned, Fletcher hands off the keg tap to the party-goer. When he looks back to the fire-pit, Keith is gone. Fletcher turns, glancing to the other teens in the yard, to the chain link fence, and then up to the roof where a shadowy figure seems to disappear just past the chimney. Fletcher steps back, trying to see if he actually did just witness Keith leaping twenty feet off the ground. But there's nothing there. Handing a cup to Olive, he keeps throwing nervous glances back at the outside porch of the house. He takes a gulp of the beer and then coughs, nearly spitting it out.

"This punch tastes terrible." Fletcher comments. Olive laughs, covering her mouth with her hand. "Now I see what they mean about an acquired taste."

Olive replies, "I've actually never been drunk. I usually go to parties and just stand there with a diet coke.

"Olive and I got drunk on tequila one night. The next morning I felt like I had a flamethrower pointed at my forehead." Fletcher said.

"Okay, since neither of us is any good at drinking, how are you at dancing?" Olive asked.

"I'm much better...infinitely better..."

Under the driving pulse of techno, Fletcher takes her hand, pulling her into the crowd of dancing teenagers. Then as they begin moving, as Olive starts to smile back at him, the usually timid Fletcher begins to let go. His hands reach around her waist with the other teens pushing them closer. Bodies pressed against each other, her cheek brushes lightly at his.

Then through the crowd, Fletcher notices Lex dancing with Chad, grinding close to him, her fingers wrapped around the back of his neck. She presses her lips to Chad's locking him in a passionate kiss. As he eagerly kisses her back, sliding his hands down past her waist, Lexi opens her eyes and looks right at Fletcher. She's staring at him as she kisses Chad. Unused to the attention of one beautiful girl, much less two, Fletcher finds himself dumbstruck until the bodies of the dancing teens push together to leave him alone with Olive again.

As Fletcher peers into Olive's eyes, for a second it almost looks as though they're about to kiss, then the thumping beat of the music begins driving faster, starting to sound almost like the quickening of a heartbeat...Fletcher's heartbeat. The sounds around him intensify; his fingers clench back, veins at the surface of his hands as he presses against the fabric of Olive's shirt. His upper lip pulls up momentarily to reveal a sharpened incisor.

Lights glaring in his eyes, Fletcher takes a hard swallow as his breathing tightens, sweat beading his temples. He loses the beat of the music, stepping back and pulling away. Fletcher excuses himself, "Sorry, I have to go...go to the bathroom."

"Are you okay?" She asks. But he hurries past her and into the hallway. Teeth clenched, a sudden wave of pain slams him against the wall, tremors shuddering through his body. Waiting in a line for the bathroom, Harley notices him against the wall, his arms wrapped around his stomach.

"Fletcher, are you alright?" Harley asks, but he doesn't answer, pushing through the crowd, trying to find an exit out of the house. But one door leads to two teens making out on a bed. Another to a smoke filled room crowded with stoners. He can't seem to find a way out.

Gasps sounding more like animalistic growls, he crashes through the kitchen, shoving past people to the open door and out to the backyard.

Harley notices Cameron near the fire-pit outside. "Hey, I just saw Fletcher leave. I think he had too much to drink." Harley informs him.

"What? What do you mean?" Cameron asked, obviously alarmed.

Before she can answer, a panicked party goer charges in from the back door. "The cops are here!" Suddenly, everyone is moving, darting for an escape.

* * *

><p>Fletcher stumbles into his room, slamming the door shut. But even he's turning the lock; another wave of pain wracks his body. He falls back, hitting his dresser and catching his reflection in the mirror where two glowing eyes stare back at him.<p>

Crouched on the floor, breathing hard with sweat streaming down his forehead, Fletcher squeezes his eyes shut, trying to push back the animal inside when someone pounds on the door.

"Go away!" Fletcher shouts.

"Fletcher, it's me." Cameron calls out from the other side. Hearing the panic in his friend's voice, he pulls himself up. He unlocks the door, but only allows it to open an inch.

"Let me in." Cameron demands. "Fletcher, I can help."

"No!" Eyes still burning yellow, Fletcher stays hidden behind the door. "Listen, you have to find Olive. Take her home..." He stops speaking when Cameron interrupts.

"She's fine. I saw her get a ride. She's totally fine."

"Cameron, I think I know who it is."

Cameron demands, "Just let me in and we can talk."

"It's Keith. Keith Hale is the werewolf. He's the one who bit me. He's the one who killed the girl in the woods!" Fletcher exclaimed.

Fletcher listens, but there's nothing but shocked silence from the other side of the door until, "Fletcher...Keith's the one who drove Olive from the party."

Bedroom window thrown open, Fletcher launches himself out from the second story fifteen feet up. When his feet hit the pavement, his crouched figure slowly draws up to reveal he's no longer struggling against the transformation; _he's given into it._

He takes off for the woods, searching for Olive. He reaches the Auburn Hills preserve and jumps on Keith's car. He lies flat of the car's hood, looking in the car window for Olive. Neither she nor Keith are anywhere in sight. He jumps off and goes further into the woods.

* * *

><p>Robbie pulls into the Doyle's driveway and quickly gets out. He rushes to the door and rings the doorbell. "Come, on, come on!" He mutters. He bangs on the door waiting for it to open. Soon, he is watching as Mrs. Doyle opens the door. "Hi, Mrs. Doyle, you have no idea who I am. I'm a friend of your daughter's. Uh, look, this is gonna sound crazy, um...really crazy actually. You know what? Crazy doesn't..." Cameron mumbles on and on. Mrs. Doyle keeps looking at him as if he was strange.<p>

"Olive!" She turns to the stairs. "It's for you!"

Olive comes out of her room and when she spots Cameron, she slams her hands softly against the rail of the stairs. "Cameron."

* * *

><p>Fletcher is running past trees in werewolf form. He jumps hills and runs on all fours like a werewolf would do. He looks all around, but nobody or nothing is in sight until he sees a black blazer jacket hanging on a tree branch and gets a flashback from when he was picking Olive up; it was her jacket.<p>

"Where is she?!" Fletcher asks. Suddenly, a deep voice answers to him.

"She's safe...from you."

He looks in the direction his voice came from and Keith is right in front of him. Grunting, Keith grabs him. They roll down the hills, wrestling each other. Keith slams Fletcher against a tree and grows.

"What did you do with her?" Fletcher asked, concerned if Olive were safe or hurt, or still alive or even dead.

"Shush, quiet." He warns as soon as he hears a twig crunch. "It's too late. They're already here. Run." He runs away from him. Fletcher starts running, but an arrow comes charging to him and nails his arm to the tree.

He screams, trying to get it out as he sees three hunters come out from the shadows. They are looking at him and the middle on is pointing a crossbow at him. Fletcher glares as the one hunter in the center takes a couple steps toward him. "Take him." He orders.

Keith comes out of the shadows aiming for the hunters. Out of nowhere, Keith pulls two of the hunters back against trees and they don't get up. The last hunter standing looks back. Keith rushes to Fletcher and break him free from the tree as the hunter faces the other direction, holding out a gun. Fletcher screams in pain and follows Keith.

They run to a random tree far away from the hunters and Fletcher leans on it, asking, "Who were they?"

"Those were hunters; the kind that has been hunting us for centuries."

Fletcher raises his voice when he responds, "Us...? You mean you! You did this to me!"

"Is it really so bad, Fletcher?" He asks. "That you can see better, hear more clearly, move faster than any human could ever hope? You've been given something that some people could kill for. The bite is a gift."

"I don't want it." Fletcher stated.

"You will. And you're gonna need me if you want to learn how to control it. So you and I, Fletcher...we're brothers now." Keith walks away, leaving him alone.

* * *

><p>The next morning, Fletcher is walking on the outline of the road near the forest when Cameron pulls up beside him. As he's getting in, Cameron hands him a clean shirt. "Do you know what actually worries me most?" Fletcher asked a few seconds later.<p>

"If you say Olive, I'm gonna punch you in the head." Cameron comments. Fletcher was stunned by his answer, but he thought he was teasing. In case he wasn't, he didn't say her name.

"She probably hates me now."

"Ugh." Cameron groans. "I doubt that, but you might want to come up with a pretty amazing apology. Or, you know you could just tell her the truth and reveal in the awesomeness of the fact that you're a freaking werewolf." Cameron suggested and Fletcher looked at him like he was crazy. "Okay, that's a bad idea. Hey, we'll get through this. Come on, if I have to, I'll chain you up myself on full moon nights. I had a boa once. I could do it." Cameron tried to convince him. Fletcher scoffed and Cameron looked at him with a half-smile.

* * *

><p>At the end of school that Monday, Fletcher sits outside in his Lacrosse gear when Olive walks passed him. She notices him jump up and follow her. "So, what happened? You left me stranded at the party."<p>

"Yeah, I know, I know. I'm really sorry, I am." Fletcher apologized. "But you're gonna have to trust that I had a really good reason." He continued. Olive stopped walking and turned to face him.

"Did you get sick?" She asked.

"I definitely had an attack of something."

She's unconvinced. "Am I gonna get an explanation?"

"Can you just find it in your heart to just trust me on this one?"

"Am I gonna regret this?" She asked.

"You probably are." He answers. Olive laughed. "So, is that a yes on a second chance?"

"Yes." Olive responded. A car horn goes off and Olive looks to see her dad. "That's my dad. I better go." Olive walked off. Fletcher turns around to walk away, but turns back around to discover that Olive's dad was the one who shot him in the arm with an arrow the couple nights ago.

* * *

><p><strong>"I've been around this road so many times. It feels like it's skin is a part of mine. This taste of milk is almost gone. I still got my shame, but not for long. I've been wrong so many times before, but never quite like this. Oh, it rained, but the rain all turned to piss. I hope to make it home one day. I doubt that day will come. I know by now that my days...they're all gone." - Of the Mountains, Dan Deacon <strong>


	3. Stay Away

_"Losing one game isn't gonna kill anyone; in fact, it might even save someone."_

Fletcher walked to his locker in the boys locker room, thinking. He leans against it with his back when Cameron walks past him, catching a glance at him. It is clear Fletcher is still shocked about Olive's dad being a werewolf hunter. Cameron looks back, leaning against the edge of the last locker.

"Did you apologize to Olive?" Cameron asked, showing concern for Fletcher's love life."

"Yeah..."

"Is she giving you a second chance or...?"

"Yeah..."

"Yeah, so everything's good!" Cameron exclaimed. He starts to walk off, but he comes back after hearing a faint 'no' from Fletcher. Cameron's comforting smile turns into a slight frown. "No?"

"Remember the hunters?" Fletcher asked. "Her dad is one of them."

"Her dad...?'

"...shot me with..." Fletcher speaks slowly.

"Olive's father...?"

"...with a crossbow."

"Olive's father..."

"Yes, her father!" Fletcher yelled. He starts to have bad scenarios. Cameron runs over and punches him.

"No, Fletcher. Snap back! You okay? Hey, alright. He didn't recognize you, right?" Cameron asked.

"No. No, I don't think so."

Cameron asks, "Does she know about him?"

"I don't know. W-what if she does? This is gonna kill me man!" A whistle blows and Cameron looks in the direction it came from.

"Okay, just focus on lacrosse. Okay, here, Fletcher. Take this and focus on lacrosse from now, okay?" Cameron hands him the lacrosse stick. "That's all you gotta do. Here. We. Go." Cameron hits him repeatedly on the arm before leaving to go get himself ready.

* * *

><p>"Let's go! One-on-one from up top! Chad, take a long stick today." The coach shouts. "Atta boy...!" Chad nods and grabs a long stick after putting the short stick down. Coach blows his whistle as Chad faces another player.<p>

Chad knocks him down, stopping him from the ball into the net. "That's how you do it, Chad! That's how you do it! Greenberg, take a lap! Let's go. Faster, Greenberg lets go."

When he got to Fletcher, he starts talking to him. "Quimby, what are you waiting for? Let's go."

Fletcher snaps out of his thoughts and realizes he was next. He starts running across the field, but Chad pushes him down. The coach comes over, laughing.

"Hey, Quimby...! You sure you still want to be first line, Quimby? My grandmother can move faster than that and she's _dead_. Do you think you can move faster than the lifeless corpse of my dead grandmother?"

"Yes, Coach." Fletcher whispers, pulse rising under the mask.

"I can't hear you."

"Yes, Coach." Fletcher raises his voice a little louder.

"Then do it again." Standing up, Fletcher runs to the line and faces Chad once again. He starts running to the goal just as Chad gets right in front of him. As Fletcher gets faster, Chad blocks him. Fletcher pushes him down and Chad plummets to the ground, grasping his shoulder. The team runs to Chad to make sure he's okay. They don't pay attention to Fletcher, whose crouching down on his knees a few feet away. Cameron runs over to Fletcher.

"Fletcher, Fletcher, are you okay?" He asks.

"I can't control it, Cameron. It's happening." He admitted, struggling to keep the wolf inside him in.

"What, here, now? Come on." Cameron rushed him off the field and led to the locker room, unaware of Keith there, standing by the bleachers.

Cameron finally gets Fletcher into the locker room in time when he starts to transform. "Get away from me!" Fletcher suddenly shouts, causing Cameron to stagger away quickly.

Being chased around the room, Cameron tries to escape. He bumps into the fire extinguisher and quickly grabs it before spraying it in his face. He hides around the corner until he hears a faint "Cameron" from Fletcher.

"What happened?" Fletcher asked as Cameron came back into the room.

"You tried to kill me." He puts the fire extinguisher up and sits down next to Fletcher. "Like I told you before, it's the anger. It's your pulse rising. It's a trigger."

"But it's lacrosse; it's a pretty violent game if you haven't noticed." Fletcher points out.

"Well, it is gonna be a lot more violent if you end up killing someone on the field. You can't play Saturday; you're gonna have to get out of the game."

"But, I'm first line."

"Not anymore."

* * *

><p>After lacrosse practice, Fletcher goes home and walks up to his room. He plops down on the bed all tired out. His mom comes into the room. "Hey." She says, getting his attention. "Late shift again for me, but I'm taking Saturday off to see your first game."<p>

"No, mom you can't." He responds as she walks to his bed.

"Oh, I can and I will. Come on, one shift isn't gonna break us completely." Melissa then notices the dark circles under Fletcher's eyes. "What's wrong with your eyes?" Fletcher quickly sits up, panicked that his eyes were yellow. "It seems like you haven't been sleeping for days."

"Oh, uh it's nothing." Fletcher responds. "I'm just stressed.

"Just stress, nothing else?" Melissa asked.

"Homework..."

"I mean, it's not like you're taking drugs or anything, right?"

"Right now...?" Fletcher raises his eyebrows.

"Right now...? I'm sorry, what do you mean 'right now'? Have you ever taken drugs?"

He asks, "Have you?" She just turns around then walks out after saying 'get some sleep'. He just sighs and lays his head down. His laptop starts to beep. It's Cameron requesting video chat. He walks to his computer and answers it. Cameron appears, pointing a nerf gun at Fletcher's screen.

"What did you find out?" Fletcher asks, sitting down at the desk.

"Well, it's bad." Cameron answered. "Chad's got a separated shoulder."

"Because of me...?"

"No, because he's a tool..."

"Well, is he gonna play?"

Cameron answers, "Well, they don't know yet. Now, they're just counting on you for Saturday."

Fletcher just closes his eyes and sighs as someone appears behind him. Cameron sees this and types something. _It looks like..._it takes a while for the rest to come up. _Someone's behind you._ Fletcher turns around before being smashed against the wall by Keith.

Keith starts, "I saw you on the field."

"What are you talking about?" Fletcher asked.

"You shifted in front of them. If they find out what you are, they find out about me, about all of us. And if it's not just the hunters, it's everyone."

It gets harder for Fletcher to speak considering his face is smashed against the wall, "They didn't see anything, I swear!"

"And they won't! Because if you even try to play in that game on Saturday, I'm gonna kill you myself." Keith threatens just before disappearing through the window.

* * *

><p>The next day at school, Fletcher is talking to Coach Gibson about tomorrow night's game. "What do you mean; you can't play the game tomorrow night?" Gibson asked.<p>

"I mean I can't play the game tomorrow night."

"You can't _wait_ to play the game tomorrow night." Coach adds unsaid words to it.

"No, Coach, I can't play the game tomorrow night."

"I'm not following."

"I'm having personal issues."

Gibson asks, "Is it a girl?"

"No."

"Is it a guy? You know, our goalie Danny is gay."

"Yeah, I know, Coach, but that's not it."

Gibson asks, "You don't think Danny's a good looking guy?"

"I think he's good looking, but I like girls." Fletcher gets frustrated. "And that's not it, anyway!"

"What, is it drugs? Are you doing meth? I had a brother that was addicted to meth. You should've seen what it did to his teeth. They were all cracked and rotten. It was disgusting."

"My god, what happened to him?" Fletcher asked, showing concern.

"He got veneers. Is that what this is about?" Gibson asked. "Are you afraid of getting hurt, Quimby?"

"No, I'm having some issues dealing with aggression."

"Well, here's the good news. That's why you play lacrosse; problem solved."

"Coach, I can't play the game tomorrow night." Fletcher pointed out.

"Listen, Quimby, part of playing first line is taking on responsibility of being first line. Now, if you can't shoulder that responsibility, then you're back on the bench until you're ready."

Fletcher asks, "If I don't play the game, you're taking me off first line?"

"Quimby, play the game."

* * *

><p>Fletcher walks through the halls when his phone rings. He takes it out and sees a text from his mom.<p>

_Mom (Work)_

_Got the night off! Coming to see you play! So excited!_

Fletcher looks up to see Olive coming down the stairs. "Hey." She greeted him as she walked over. "Busy?" She asked, glancing at his phone.

"No. No, it's just, uh...my mom. She's nothing." Olive's eyes widen until Fletcher catches himself. "I mean, it's nothing. Uh, I'm never busy for you."

"I like the sound of that." She smiles and they laugh. "Well, I have to run to French class, but I wanted you to know that I'm coming to see you play tomorrow?"

"You are?"

"Yeah, and we're all going out afterwards. It's going to be you, me, Lexi, and Chad. It's gonna be great. Tell Cameron to come too." Olive starts to walk away and shouts over her shoulder "Save me a seat at lunch. I gotta go."

"Oh, god..." He mutters, walking away.

Olive quickly heads to her locker and starts putting in her locker combination as the halls clear. She gets suspicious when she sees her jacket from the other night at the party, the one she never went back and got.

There's an eerie squeaking noise as she grabs it. Someone was watching her. She looks both sides of her to see nothing. Starling she, the bell suddenly rings. She chuckles just before grabbing her French book.

* * *

><p>Lexi and Fletcher stand at the chalk board in Math class, facing it with chalks in hand as they solve a math equation. Lexi asks, whispering, "Why is there a rumor going around that you're not playing tomorrow?"<p>

"It's because I'm sort of not."

"I think you sort of are, especially when you brutally injure my boyfriend while ramming into him." Lexi shot back.

"He brutally injured himself by ramming into me."

Lexi just smirked then looked at him with a glare. "Chad's gonna play tomorrow, but he's not gonna be at his peak and I prefer my boyfriend at crowning performance."

"Okay." Fletcher said, slightly annoyed.

"I date the captain of the winning lacrosse team, and if they start off the season losing, I date the captain of the losing lacrosse team." Lexi pointed out. "I don't date losers."

"Losing one game isn't gonna kill anyone." Fletcher points out before quietly muttering, "In fact, it might even save someone."

"Fine, don't play. We'll probably win anyway. Then we'll go out after, like we were planning, and I'll introduce Olive to all the hot players on the team and Fletcher Quimby can stay home, surfing the net for porn." Lexi puts her chalk down, finished with the problem, and walks back to her desk while clapping the chalk of her hands.

The teacher speaks, "Mr. Quimby, you're not even close to solving your problem."

"Tell me about it."

* * *

><p>Fletcher is at his locker, locking it, when Cameron runs over. "Hey, come here."<p>

"What?" He asks while Cameron drags him over to the end of the hallway where the principal's office is. Standing out of the office, the principal, Deputy Parks, and another cop are having a conversation.

Cameron points to them, "Tell me what they're saying."

"Can you hear them?" Cameron asks a few seconds of Fletcher listening intently.

"Shush."

_Deputy Parks: I want everyone under the age of 18 to be in their home by 9:30p.m. We'd like to institute the curfew, effective immediately._

Fletcher turned to Cameron. "Everyone under the age of 18 has curfew because of the body."

"Unbelievable. My dad's out looking for a rabid animal, while the jerk-off who actually killed the girl is just hanging out, doing whatever he wants."

"Well, you can't exactly tell your dad the truth about Keith."

"I can do something." Cameron tells him as Fletcher leans against the wall.

"Like what?"

"Find the other half of the body." Cameron says then walks away.

"Are you kidding?" When Fletcher turns, he sees Lexi, Olive, and some guy from the lacrosse team.

"This is Olive." Lexi introduces Olive to one of the guys.

"Hi." Olive greets them. "It's nice to meet you." She continues as she shakes hands with him.

"She's the new girl. She just moved here." Fletcher walks towards them, listening in on the conversation. He walks with a glare directed toward the guy and Lexi.

"Do you like it?"

"I like it."

Lexi glares back at him and walks away, tagging the guy along.

Olive turns to face Fletcher with a smile. "So, Lexi's introducing you to everyone?"

"She's being so unbelievably nice to me." Olive points out.

"I wonder why." But Fletcher knows the reason why.

"Maybe she gets how much being the new girl can suck." Fletcher notices her jacket. He gets a flashback of seeing it hung by a tree branch.

"Where did you get that?"

"My jacket? It was in my locker. I think Lexi brought it back from the party. She has my combination..."

"Did she say she brought it back, or did somebody give her the jacket?" Fletcher cut her off.

"Like who?"

"Like Keith."

"Like Keith as in your friend?"

"He's not my friend. How much did you talk to him when he drove you home?"

"Mmm, we did not talk much at all."

"What did you say?"

"I gotta get to class." Olive said.

"Olive..." Fletcher called out.

"No, I really have to go."

* * *

><p>Fletcher quickly rides his bike to Keith's house. When he reaches it, he gets off and starts yelling. "Keith! Keith!" He shouts as he takes his backpack off aggressively. Fletcher smells someone and looks at the back of the house to see fresh dirt. He looked back at the front of the house to already see Keith standing there.<p>

"Stay away from her!" He shouted. He couldn't deal with losing her. "She doesn't know anything!"

"Yeah, and what if she does? You think your little buddy Cameron can just Google werewolves, and now you got all the answers, is that it? You don't get it yet, Fletcher, but I'm looking out for you. Think about what could happen. You're out on the field, the aggression takes over, and you shift in front of everyone." Keith grabs Fletcher's lacrosse stick. "You're mom, all your friends. And when they see you," He pokes the top of the lacrosse stick on Fletcher's chest and he slaps it away. "Everything falls apart." Keith rips the net with his claws.

He suddenly disappears when he throws the lacrosse stick in mid-air and Fletcher catches it.

* * *

><p><strong>"This world spins too slow and we know this love has just been sold." Apache, The Ruse<strong>


	4. Midnight Rooftops

**"You already have it; I'm just waiting for you to take it." **

* * *

><p>Cameron rushes through the Quimby house and up to Fletcher's room. Opening the door, he starts to ask a bunch of questions, "What did you find? How did you find it? Where did you find it?" Cameron adds, "And, yes, I've had a lot of Adderall."<p>

"I found something of Keith Hale's." Fletcher informs.

"Are you kidding, what?"

"There's something buried there." He replies. "I could smell blood."

"That's awesome! I mean, that's terrible. Who's blood?"

Fletcher gets up. "I don't know. But when we do, your dad nails Keith for the murder, and then you help me figure out how to play lacrosse without changing, because there's no way I'm not playing that game." He tosses the fixed stick to the bed and they walk out.

* * *

><p>Cameron and Fletcher walk into the hospital. Fletcher suddenly nudges him, pointing to the door that reads "Morgue". "Okay." Fletcher says, heading over.<p>

"Good luck, I guess, yeah." Cameron says, walking away as Fletcher sneaks into the room beside them. Cameron goes into the waiting room to see Lexi sitting on a chair. Cameron gets nervous and leans onto the check-in-desk. He walks to Lexi with a cheerful attitude.

"Hey, Lexi. You probably don't remember me. Um...I sit behind you in biology." He waves at her and she looks at the ceiling. "Uh, anyway, I always thought that we just had this kind of connection. It was unspoken, of course. Maybe it'd be kind of cool to get to know each other a little better." Cameron realizes that Lexi has been on the phone the whole time when she takes off her Bluetooth phone.

"Hold on, give me a second." She warns and takes the Bluetooth off before turning to Cameron. "Yeah, I didn't get any of what you just said. Is it worth repeating?"

Cameron chuckles nervously. "No. Sorry. I'm gonna sit. You don't care." He sits in a chair around the corner and grabs a comic book.

* * *

><p>Fletcher walks down the hall, looking at the label on each door. He gets to the Morgue and quietly goes in. He walks past a table then goes to a shelf where they have body sized containers to put the deceased in. He opens a door that was near and pulls the body out.<p>

He lifts up the sheet where the feet are shown and there's a tag on the big toe. He glances at the tag and reads the information on there. He puts the body back in and shuts the cabinet.

* * *

><p>Chad walks down the hall and Lexi immediately gets up to walk to him. "Did he do it?" Lexi asks, concerned for her boyfriend's injury.<p>

Chad informs, "He said not to make a habit of it, but one cortisone shot won't kill me."

"You should get one right before game, too. The pros do it all the time. Do you want to be a little high school amateur?" She crosses her arms over her chest before grabbing Chad and pulling him toward her. "Or do you want to go pro?" She gives him a soft kiss.

They walk away and Cameron, who was watching them, made a face. Fletcher comes up and snatches the book away from Cameron, startling him. "Oh my god!"

"The scent was the same."

"Are you sure?" Cameron asks, getting up.

"Yeah..."

Cameron sighs, "So, he did bury the other half of the body on his property."

"Which means; we have proof he killed the girl and then buried half of her body." Fletcher responds.

"I say use it."

"How?"

"Tell me something first." Cameron said. "Are you doing this because you want to stop Keith or because you want to play in the game and he said you couldn't?"

"There are bite marks on the legs, Cameron; bite marks."

"Okay, then we're gonna need a shovel." Cameron said, patting Fletcher on the back as they walk out.

* * *

><p>Keith walks outside and heads to his car. Right when he drives away, Cameron and Fletcher drive up. They hop out of the car and walk to the spot where the body was buried. As he watches Cameron shine the flashlight, Fletcher states, "Wait. Something's different."<p>

"Different how...?"

"I don't know. Let's just get this over with." They reach the spot and start digging. It takes almost an hour for them to dig six feet under. Wiping sweat and dirt off of his nose, Fletcher says, "This is taking way too long."

"Just keep going."

Fletcher asks, "What if he comes back?"

"Then we get the hell out of here."

"What if he catches us?"

"I have a plan for that."

"Which is...?"

"You run one way, I run the other and whoever he catches first, rest in peace."

Fletcher scoffs. "I hate that plan."

When Cameron puts his shovel back in the ground, he hits something. "Oh, stop, stop." They bend down and start wiping the dirt away. Cameron starts to untie something.

"Hurry up."

"I'm trying." Cameron says. "Did he have to tie the thing in 900 knots?"

"I'll do it." When they're done, they uncover everything and jump back with a scream when they see a black wolf with its tongue sticking out.

"What the hell is that?" Cameron asks in disgust.

"It's a wolf." Fletcher points out.

"Yeah, I can see that. I thought you said you smelled blood, as in human blood."

"I told you something was different.

"This doesn't make since."

"We gotta get out of here."

"Yeah, okay, help me cover this up."

Cameron looks up for a second and spots a purple flower poking out of the ground. "What's wrong?" Fletcher asked, following his eyes to see what he's looking at.

"You see that flower?" Cameron asks.

"What about it?"

"I think it is wolfsbane."

"What's that?" Fletcher asks, confused.

"Haven't you ever seen _The Wolf Man_?"

"No."

"Lon Chaney Jr.? Claude rains the original classic werewolf movie?"

"No!" Fletcher shouts. "What?"

"You are so unprepared for this." Cameron sighs and gets up, walking to the plant. He starts pulling it out of the ground. It's attached to a rope and he walks in a circle to get it out. The area starts to glow red. Fletcher looks back at the werewolf and jumps up. "Cameron." He calls.

Cameron stops what he was doing and goes to stand next to Fletcher. He looks down and sees that the wolf was now human. "Holy!" He exclaims, falling down a little.

* * *

><p>Fletcher and Cameron are at Keith's house, a cop car in front of them. A cop comes out with Keith, handcuffs latched onto his hands behind him. Fletcher watches as he leans against Cameron's jeep. He looks in the distance to see Cameron walking over. Cameron didn't see Fletcher frantically shaking his head 'no', trying to stop him.<p>

As Cameron gets in the car and starts talking to Keith, all Keith does is glare at him. "Okay, just so you know, I'm not afraid of you." Keith growls, making Cameron sink down a little. "Okay, maybe I am, but it doesn't matter. I just want to know something. The girl you killed, she was a werewolf. She was a different kind, wasn't she? I mean, she could turn herself into an actual wolf. I know Fletcher can't do that. Is that why you killed her?"

"Why are you so worried about me when it's your friend who's the problem?" Keith asks. "When he shifts on the field, what do you think they're gonna do, huh, just keep cheering him on? I can't stop him from playing, but you can." Keith leans forward. "And trust me, you want to." The door opens and Sheriff Parks suddenly pulls Cameron out.

"Hey, OW, that hurt!" Cameron exclaims.

"There. Stand." Sheriff ordered. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"I'm just trying to help."

"Uh-uh. Okay, well, how about you help me understand exactly how you came across this.

Cameron sighs. "We were looking for Fletcher's inhaler."

"When did he drop his inhaler?" Sheriff questioned.

"He dropped it the other night." Cameron confessed then groaned, realizing what he just did.

"The other night when you were out here looking for the first half of the body?"

"Yes."

"The night you told me you were alone and Fletcher was at home."

"Yes. No. Oh, crap."

"So, you lied to me."

"That depends on how you define lying." Cameron responded.

"Well, I define it as not telling the truth. How do you define it?"

"Well, I define it as reclining your body in a horizontal position." Cameron demonstrates with his arm.

Sheriff responds, "Get the hell out of here."

"Absolutely..." Cameron walks to his jeep.

* * *

><p>"I can't find anything about wolfsbane being used for burial." Fletcher informs Cameron as he drives down the road.<p>

"Just keep looking." Cameron orders, sighing. "Maybe it's like a ritual or something, like maybe they bury you as a wolf or maybe it's like a special skill, you know? Like something you have to learn."

"I'll put it on my to-do list, right underneath figuring out how the hell I'm playing this game tonight."

"Maybe it's different for she-wolves."

"Okay!" Fletcher shouted. "Stop it!"

"Stop what?"

"Stop saying werewolves! Stop enjoying this so much."

Cameron asks, "Are you okay?"

"No! No, I'm not. I'm so far from being okay."

"You know, you're gonna have to accept this, Fletcher; sooner or later." Cameron states.

"I can't..."

"Well, you're gonna have to."

"No, I can't breathe!" Fletcher starts grunting and hits the roof with his hand. Cameron soon realizes what's happening.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa..."

"Pull over." Fletcher orders.

"Why, what's happening?" Cameron asked.

Fletcher opens up Cameron's backpack and sees the rope of wolfsbane. "You kept it?"

"What was I supposed to do with hit?" Cameron asked.

"Stop the car." Fletcher's eyes then turned yellow and his canines grew.

Cameron suddenly pulls over and stops the car. He grabs his backpack and jumps out. Throwing it back into the woods, he turns to the car to see Fletcher car door swinging open, but no Fletcher. "Fletcher?" He wonders fearfully.

Soon, he's driving down the road again, calling dispatch. The line picks up and a woman starts to speak, "_Cameron__, you know you can't call the dispatch when I'm on duty."_

"I just need to know if you've gotten any odd calls."

"_Odd how...?"_

"Uh, like an odd person or a dog-like individual roaming the streets."

"_I'm hanging up on you now."_

"No, wait, wait!"

"_Goodbye." _The line drops and Cameron slams his phone on the seat.

* * *

><p>Fletcher is on the roof of Olive's house, in werewolf form. She gets up and walks to the windows, not noticing him. She shuts her curtains and Fletcher sees his reflection. Startled, he tries to get off, falling of the roof and colliding on the hood of Mr. Doyle's car. Before Mr. Doyle can even see his werewolf form, he shifts back.<p>

"Dad...?" Olive's voice could be heard from the doorway. Mr. Doyle is kneeling beside Fletcher, making sure he's okay. "Dad, what the hell are you doing?" Olive shouts as she runs to the two.

"He came out of nowhere, Olive." Mr. Doyle says.

Olive asks, "Are you trying to kill him?"

"No, of course not, he just ran out of the driveway."

"I'm sorry." Fletcher apologizes, grunting in pain. "It's my fault. I'm sorry."

"Are you okay?" Olive asked.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. I swear." Olive starts to stroke his hair. "Sorry I hit your car. I was just coming to say hi." Fletcher says and Olive chuckles.

"You sure you're okay?" Mr. Doyle asks as he and Olive help Fletcher up.

He grunts, "Yeah, yeah, completely. I should go. I've got a lacrosse game to get to." He turns to Olive. "You're still coming, right?"

"Of course I'm coming." Olive smiles at him.

"We both are." Mr. Doyle adds.

* * *

><p>Fletcher has finished getting ready and puts his clothes in a bag. A male voice that can only be heard by him says his last name, "Quimby." Everyone's slamming lockers which make it difficult for Fletcher to hear just one thing. "Quimby." The voice says again. He closes his eyes tight then opens them. He sits back down and starts putting his knee pads on.<p>

Cameron comes by and looks at him. He starts making his way towards Fletcher. "Are you gonna try to convince me not to play?" Fletcher asks.

"I just hope you know what you're doing."

"If I don't play, I lose first time and Olive."

"Olive's not going anywhere." Cameron shouts, getting annoyed. "And it's one game that you really don't need to play."

"I wanna play!" Fletcher shouts and looks at him. "I want to be on the team and I want to go out with Olive. I want a semi-freaking normal life. Do you get that?" He asks.

"I get it." Cameron sits down and sighs. "Just try not to worry too much while you're out there, okay? Or get too angry."

"I got it."

"Or stressed..."

"I got it."

"Don't think about Olive or being in the stands, or that her father's trying to kill you, or that Keith's trying to kill you, or the girl he killed. Or that you might kill if a hunter doesn't kill you first." Fletcher was getting annoyed and turned around with a glare, warning him to stop. "I'm sorry. I'll stop. Good luck."

* * *

><p>The crowd cheers and the game is about to start. Everyone takes their seats and the players get prepared to win. Fletcher and Cameron walk to the bleachers with the items for the game. Fletcher sees Olive, Mr. Doyle, and his mom. "Fletcher!" Lexi yelled, walking up to him and grabbing his shirt. Cameron gasps and walks away. "I just want you to remember one thing for tonight."<p>

"Uh, winning isn't everything?"

Lexi chuckles and looks at his shoulder before wiping invisible dust off his shoulder. "Nobody likes a loser." She says and walks away.

Coach sits next to Chad and asks, "How's your shoulder?"

"It's fine." Chad responds

"Do you feel any pain?"

"No."

"What if I gave it a big old punch?" Coach rises up his fist. "Would you feel any pain then?"

Chad knits his eyebrows, "Maybe."

"Listen, just go out there. Just give it your best. If you feel any pain, just..."

"Just keep playing...?"

"That's my boy."

The whistle blows and the players run to the field. Fletcher runs to the goal; Cameron is nervously biting his nails. Cameron prayers silently, "Please let this be okay. Please."

Darryl comes up to Cameron and pats his back. "Hey kid."

"Hey." He greets him back.

"So, you think you'll see any action tonight?"

"Oh, there might be action all right."

The coach puts the ball between two players and the whistle blows, they fight for it. When a player on Fletcher team gets it, they start running for the goal. Minutes later, Fletcher sees the ball on the ground. He runs over and Andre sees this. Chad runs after him and pushes Fletcher to the ground, grabbing the ball with the net.

Chad scores, "That's it, Chad! Get fired up, fired up!"

Fletcher looks back at the bleachers where Olive and Lexi are cheering. Olive and Lexi are holding up a sign that says, "We Love You Chad!" Fletcher is heartbroken by this.

"Brutal." Cameron mutters, noticing the sign. "Oh, this is not gonna be good." He mumbles, seeing Fletcher running after Chad.

"_Don't pass to Quimby," _was the last thing Fletcher heard between Danny and Chad. Fletcher's eyes turn yellow. Fletcher growls softly and the coach starts to wonder something.

Olive and Lexi are suspicious and worried. Mr. Doyle leans over, asking, "Which one is Beck again?"

"He's number 11." Lexi says. She adds, "He's also known as the only one who hasn't caught a single ball the entire game."

"I hope he's okay." Olive spoke nervously

"I hope we're okay." Lexi says. "We need to win this." Lexi stands up and picks up the sign and before nudging Olive to help her. "Olive, can I get a little help here?"

Fletcher grows even more jealous at the other sign. The ball is thrown in mid-air and Fletcher jumps up, catching it before starting to run. He dodges the players of the other team and runs to the goal. He shoots, he scores! Fletcher has won the round and everyone but Lexi and Chad cheer. Coach Gibson yells, "Quimby! Pass to Quimby!"

Fletcher has shifted, now growling. His eyes are glowing yellow, canines out. Luckily, his helmet is on. He growls at a player on the opposing team and the player backs away in fear, passing it to Fletcher.

Coach walks over to Cameron, who is biting his glove in fear and anticipation. "Did the opposing team just deliberately pass us the ball?"

"Yes, I believe so, Coach." Cameron answers.

Fletcher dodges another player, then another player, until he reaches the goal. The goalie catches the ball, but it goes through the net and into the goal. Fletcher looks at everyone else and realizes that he's shifting.

Cheers to him roar through the field. The whistle blows again and they get ready for the final round. "What the hell's up with your teammate?" A player on the opposing team asked as they got ready to start again.

"I don't know...yet." Chad responds. The coach blows the whistle and one of the opposing team players pass the ball to Fletcher. Fletcher once again does the same routine again, vision now red.

Cameron stands up slowly, knowing that Fletcher is shifting. He mutters, "No, Fletcher, no."

"_You can do it, Fletcher."_ Fletcher hears Olive mutter and her voice makes him calm down a bit. In the last 5 seconds of the game, Fletcher throws the ball into the net. They have won. Fletcher takes off his glove and sees his claws. He dashes for the locker room, Olive following.

* * *

><p>Fletcher pants as he walks to the sinks. Taking off his helmet, he throws it across the floor. Olive comes in and sees his helmet. She starts to worry and become suspicious. Taking off her beanie, she starts calling out for Fletcher.<p>

"Fletcher?" There's no answer. She hears glass shatter when Fletcher punches the mirror. "Fletcher? Fletcher, are you here?"

Fletcher watches Olive from above on the ceiling bar. She's suspiciously staring at the broken glass. Olive leans against the wall in fear and calls out for Fletcher once again. She goes to the showers to see Fletcher. He is fine after making it through his transformation.

"Fletcher, are you okay?" She walks up to him and touches his shoulder, making him suddenly turn around. "You scared me. Are you alright?"

"Yeah, sorry, I just got kind of lightheaded for a sec."

"Maybe it's the adrenaline." Olive suggested. "You were pretty amazing out there."

"I'm sorry for acting totally weird today."

"It's okay. I can handle weird."

"To be totally honest, you, uh, make me kind of nervous."

"I do?"

"Yeah, kind of like really nervous." He says, Olive laughs. "I just...I wanted to make sure I get my second chance."

"You already have it; I'm just waiting for you to take it." She starts to walk away, but turns back when Fletcher starts to respond.

"Well, maybe I need to learn to take more chances."

"Maybe you do." Fletcher leans in and their lips touch. They share a sweet, soft kiss. Cameron runs in and then takes some steps back to give them a little privacy. Peering in, he still watches.

Olive and Fletcher pull away and Olive giggles, "I got to get back to my dad." She walks away and sees Cameron.

"Cameron." She says, walking out the door. He waves a little, barely lifting a hand. He walks away from his hiding place and towards Fletcher, who has a goofy grin on his face.

"I kissed her." Fletcher says.

"I saw."

"She kissed me."

"I saw that too. That's pretty good, huh?"

Fletcher stammers, "I don't know how, but I controlled it. I pulled it back. Maybe I can do this. Maybe I can do this. Maybe it's not that bad."

"Yeah," Cameron chuckles. "We'll talk later then." Cameron is about to walk away, but Fletcher stops him.

Fletcher questions, "What?"

"The, uh, medical examiner looked at the other half of the body we found."

"And..."

"Well, I'll keep it simple; the medical examiner determines killer of girl to be animal, not human. Keith's human, not animal. Keith, not killer; he was let out of jail."

"Are you kidding?"

"No. And here's a bigger kick in the butt. My dad ID'd the dead girl, both halves. Her name was Laura Hale."

"Hale?"

"Keith's sister."

* * *

><p>Fletcher's glove is still on the field. Chad sees it and goes to pick it up. The tips of it are torn and Chad feels someone's presence behind him. He looks to see a figure staring at him; Keith Hale.<p>

* * *

><p><strong>"She was walking down the street looking all around, looking for the little bird." - Little Birds, We Are Wolves<strong>


	5. Garrison Myers

_Olive and Fletcher come out of the school, holding hands and running to a bus. "Come on." Fletcher shouts, guiding her._

_"__Where are you taking me?" _

_"__I'm taking you somewhere where we can be alone." _

_"__We are alone." They stop and Fletcher __leans against the bus doors._

_"__...somewhere where we can be more alone." He opens the doors and they go in. Fletcher sits in a seat, Olive stands over him. She sits in the seat beside his. Leaning against the window, she smiles. Fletcher gets up and walks over to her. He leans down and kisses her with passion. This censors a trigger and his claws grow out. They dig into the seat and rip it, stuffing coming out. Fletcher pulls away; Olive asks, "What's wrong?" _

_He starts growling and walks away to the other side of the bus. "Get away." He warns, but she stays beside him. _

_"Fletcher?" Olive__ stands up. Fletcher's__'s eyes start glowing yellow, hair grows alongside of his jaws and his canines grow. "Fletcher?"_

_"__Get away from me!" Fletcher stops crouching and looks at her. She starts to stagger back away in fear. Turning around, she starts for the door. But Fletcher, being faster than her, grabs her leg. She falls to the ground and hits her face. He drags her across the floor while she keeps on turning. She tries to grab things so he wouldn't be able to keep on dragging her. She is able to kick him in the chest and crawl back to the door, but she falls and starts leaning on the door so someone could see her. But no one could see her bloody face. He starts walking to her. Right when she is almost able to get the door open, Fletcher covers her mouth and smashes her head against the window._

* * *

><p>The next day at school, Fletcher is telling Cameron what happened. Cameron questioned, "So, you killed her?"<p>

"I don't know. I just woke up. I was sweating like crazy and I couldn't breathe. I've never had a dream where I woke up like that." He said as they start to walk down the halls.

"Really...?" Cameron asked. "I have, but it usually ends a little differently."

"A) I meant that I've never had a dream that felt real, and B) never give me that much detail about you in bed again." Fletcher knew what he meant.

"Noted..." Cameron sighed. "Let me take a guess here."

"No, I know. You think it has something to do with me going out with Olive tomorrow, like I'm gonna lose control and rip her throat out."

"No, of course not," Cameron lied, scoffing. "Yeah, that's totally it. Hey, come on, it's gonna be fine, alright? Personally, I think you're handling this pretty freaking amazingly. You know, it's not like there's a Lycanthropy for beginner's class you can take."

"Yeah, not a class, but maybe a teacher..."

"Who, Keith...?" Cameron slaps him on the back of the head. "Are you forgetting the part where we got him tossed in jail?"

"Yeah, I know, but chasing her and dragging her to the back of the bus...it felt so real."

"How real...?"

"...like it actually happened." Cameron and Fletcher walk outside and their jaws drop. In front of them is a bloody bus with a door hanging out.

"I think it did." Cameron comments, making Fletcher more worried than he actually was.

* * *

><p>Cameron and Fletcher have gone inside away from the scene. Cameron tries to assure him that Olive is fine. "She's probably fine." He finally catches up to Fletcher.<p>

"She's not answering my texts, Cameron." He responds, looking around frantically for her.

"It could just be a coincidence, alright?"

"It could be a seriously amazing coincidence." He turns to Cameron. "Just help me find her, okay?" They pass a few people until Fletcher turns and asks him a question, "Do you see her?"

"No." Cameron responds. Fletcher turns a corner and slams himself against a locker. Out of frustration, he punches the locker which causes it to break and swing open. He walks backwards to the corner and bumps into someone. He turns around and Olive drops her papers. She laughs and looks at him.

"You scared the hell out of me." Olive said, bending down to pick her books up. Fletcher is happy to see that she is alive and healthy.

"You're okay." Fletcher commented.

"I will be once my heart starts beating again." Olive says. He bends down to help her. She notices that he is staring at her.

"What?" Olive asks.

"I'm just happy to see you."

The principal starts making an announcement, _"Attention students, this is your principal. I know you're all wondering about the incident that occurred last night to one of our buses. While the police work to determine what happened, classes will proceed as scheduled."_

All the students groan at the announcement. Olive puts her forehead on Fletcher's,and plays with his hair. "Save me a seat at lunch?" She smiled at him.

"Yeah..." Olive walks away. Fletcher walks away from his spot and looks to see Chad dumbfounded about his locker.

"What are you looking at, asswipe?" Chad asked. Fletcher just walked away with a laugh trying to escape his lips.

* * *

><p>Fletcher is talking to Cameron, who is right behind him in Chemistry class. "Maybe it was my blood." Fletcher suggested, looking back at him.<p>

"It could have been animal blood. You know, maybe you caught a rabbit or something."

Fletcher asked, "And did what?"

"You ate it."

"Raw?"

"No, you stopped to bake it in a little werewolf oven." Cameron responded sarcastically. "I don't know. You're the one who can't remember anything."

"Mr. Parks, if that's your idea of a hushed whisper, you might want to pull the headphones out every once in a while." Mr. Adrian Harris spoke. Cameron scoffs. "I think you and Mr. Quimby would benefit from a little distance, yes?"

"No." Mr. Harris points to a different seat and has them move further apart.

"Let me know if the separation anxiety gets to be too much." Cameron scoffs and sits down while Fletcher goes to the front.

"Hey, I think they found something!" A girl shouted, pointing to the window. In interest, everyone runs to the window to see an old man being wheeled out of the bus by some doctors.

"That's not a rabbit." Fletcher whispers to Cameron, who was standing right next to him. Suddenly, the man jumps up and starts screaming which makes the class jump a little while doctors hold him down.

"Okay," Cameron goes to Fletcher, who was backing up to his new spot. "This is good, this is good. He got up. He's not dead; dead guys can't do that." Cameron pointed out.

"Cameron...I did that."

* * *

><p>Fletcher and Cameron are still trying to wrap their heads around things. As he puts his lunch tray down and sits, Cameron states, "But dreams aren't memories."<p>

Fletcher sits down across from him, "Then it wasn't a dream. Something happened last night and I can't remember what."

"What makes you so sure that Keith even has all the answers?"

"During the full moon, he didn't change. In fact, he was in total control while I was running around in the middle of the night attacking some totally innocent guy."

"You don't know that." Cameron says.

"I do not, not know it; I can't go out with Olive. I have to cancel."

Cameron stops him. "No, you're not canceling, okay? You can't just cancel your entire life. We'll figure it out." Just as he finishes, Lexi puts her tray down and sits down next to Fletcher once she pulled her chair out.

Fletcher asks, "Figure what out?"

"Ha." Cameron laughs and looks at Fletcher. They both earn a confused look from Lexi.

"Just...uh, figure out homework."

"Yeah..." Cameron mouths, "Why is she sitting with us?" Fletcher shrugs and then are joined by Olive, Danny, and a guy named Brian. Chad comes up with his tray and looks at Brian.

"Get up." Chad orders Brian.

Brian asks, "Why don't you ask Danny to get up?"

"I don't stare at his girlfriend's coin slot." Danny responds. Brian gets up and leaves as Chad sits down. The topic is soon on the incident and the man found.

"So, I hear they're saying it's some type of animal attack."

"It was probably a cougar."

"I heard mountain." Chad says, sitting back and bring his leg up."

"A cougar is a mountain lion." Lexi corrects. "Isn't it?"

"Who cares?" Chad asked. "The guy's probably some homeless tweaker who's gonna die anyway."

"Actually, I just found out who it is." Cameron says, looking down at his phone. "Check it out." Cameron puts his phone in the middle so the gang could see.

_"__The Sheriff's Department won't speculate on details of the incident but confirmed the victim, Garrison Myers, did survive the attack. Meyers was taken to a local hospital where he remains in critical condition." _

"I know this guy." Fletcher stammers, grabbing Cameron's phone.

"You do?" Olive asked.

"Yeah, I used to take the bus back when I used to live with my dad. He was the driver."

"Can we talk about something slightly more fun, please?" Lexi asked. "Like, oh, where are we going tomorrow night?"

Olive looked at her, knowing the question was directed toward them. "You said you and Fletcher were hanging out tomorrow night, right?"

"Um, we were thinking of what we were gonna do." Olive looked at Fletcher.

"Well, I'm not sitting home again watching Lacrosse videos, so if the four of us are hanging out, we are doing something fun."

"Hanging out? Like the four of us?" Fletcher asked. Cameron covered his mouth with his hand as Fletcher looked at Olive. "Do you wanna hang out, like us and them?"

"Yeah, I guess. It sounds fun."

"You know what else sounds fun?" Chad grabs a fork. "The answer is stabbing myself in the face with his fork." When Chad was about to do so, Lexi quickly grabs it and puts it down between she and Fletcher. Fletcher rolled his eyes while drinking his water bottle.

"How about bowling?" Lexi asked, looking at Chad. "You love to bowl."

"Yeah, I do, but with actual competition."

Olive looked at him with a laugh, "How do you know we're not actual competition?" She looked at Fletcher and asked, "You can bowl, right?"

"Well, sort of." Cameron's eyes widen, knowing he was lying.

"Is it sort of or yes?" Chad asked.

"Yes. In fact, I'm a great bowler."

* * *

><p>"You're a terrible bowler." Cameron says, walking down the stairs with Fletcher at the end of school.<p>

"I know!" Fletcher shouted. "I'm such an idiot."

"God, it was like watching a car wreck. I mean, first it turned into the whole group date thing, then out of nowhere comes that phrase." Cameron says.

"Hang out." Fletcher repeats.

"You don't hang out with hot girls, okay? It's like death. Once it's hanging out, you might as well be her gay best friend. You and Danny can start hanging out."

"How is this happening?" Fletcher asked. "I either killed a guy or I didn't."

"I don't think Danny likes me very much."

"I asked Olive on a date and now we're hanging out."

Cameron asked, "Am I not attractive to gay guys?"

"I make first line, and the team captain wants to destroy me, and now..." Fletcher glances at his watch, starting to walk faster. "Now, I'm gonna be late for work."

"Wait, Fletcher, you didn't...Am I attractive to gay guy..." Cameron stops, knowing Fletcher wasn't gonna answer. "You didn't answer my question!" Fletcher starts to walk in the other direction.

* * *

><p>Fletcher rides his bike to the Animal Clinic, parking it besides the building. He runs in and apologizes to his boss Deaton. "Sorry."<p>

Deaton responds, "You're all of two minutes late."

"I just don't want you to think I'm slacking."

"Fletcher, I guarantee you; you're one of the least slacking kids in this town." Deaton says, picking up a box. Fletcher looks at Deaton and sees that the Sheriff Parks is right outside. He believes that they have found some connection to him and the attack; however, he is just here to get his dog's stitches removed. "Hey, I see somebody's ready to get their stitches out." Deaton says, turning around to see the Sheriff and the dog.

"Hey there, Fletcher, are you staying out of trouble?" Sheriff Parks asks, taking off his glasses. Fletcher nods. The Sheriff starts to talk to Deaton as he operates on the dog. "Hey, listen, while I'm here, do you mind taking a look at those pictures I was telling you about? Sacramento still can't determine an animal." He hands him the evidence envelope, and Deaton takes it.

"I'm not exactly an expert. This is the guy who was attacked on the bus?"

"Yeah, and we found wolf hairs on Laura HaleMs body."

"A wolf...?" Fletcher asks, getting into the conversation. "I mean, I read somewhere that wolves haven't been in Michigan for, like, 60 years."

"True enough, but wolves are highly migratory. They could've wandered in from another state driven by impulse or strong enough memory."

"Wolves have memories?" Fletcher asks, walking to the table.

"Longer term memories, yes. If associated with a primal drive. See this one here?" Deaton points to a picture and points to a mark on the man's face. "Those are claw marks. A wolf would've gone for the throat or the spinal cord with its teeth."

"So, what do you think, it's a mountain lion?" Sheriff asks.

"I don't know. A wolf could chase down its prey, hobbling it by tearing at the ankles and then the throat."

* * *

><p>Later, Fletcher arrives at the hospital to deliver food to his mom. "Is my beautiful, talented, and wonderful son actually bringing me dinner?" Melissa asks, scoffing.<p>

"I thought you wouldn't mind skipping the cafeteria tonight." Fletcher says, putting his elbows on the desk.

"You are the most thoughtful, loving most conniving little con artist ever." Fletcher raised his eyebrows. "You are so not getting the car tomorrow night."

"Mom..."

"What? There's a curfew; no car." Melissa looked up and smiled, grabbing the bag. "But I will take this."

Fletcher then started walking to the door, but stopped. He turned around and looked at a door where he smelled the man's scent. He walked toward it and opened the door.

He quietly shuts it and walks to a green curtain. He opens it to see the injured man. "Mr. Meyers." He said, looking at him with a worried expression. "Are you okay?" But Mr. Meyers doesn't answer, instead he freaks out. He starts groaning and screaming, grabbing Beck's shirt.

"What the hell are you doing in here?" Melissa's voice rings. "Get out! Now, go!"

* * *

><p>The Sheriff's office has dispatched a car to check out Keith Hale's place; however, using his werewolf ability manages to scare off the deputy. As his car pulls away, Fletcher appears behind it, asking Keith for help. "I know you can hear me." Fletcher says, standing in the middle between two trees. "I need your help."<p>

The door opens and Keith walks out to stand in front of Fletcher. He proceeds to speak, "Okay. I know I was part of you getting arrested and that we basically announced you being here to the hunters. I also don't know what happened to your sister. But I think I did something last night. I had a dream about...someone. But someone else got hurt. And it turns out that part of the dream might've actually happened."

"You think you attacked the driver?" Keith asked.

"Did you see what I did last night?"

"No."

Fletcher asks, "Can you at least tell me the truth? Am I gonna hurt someone?"

"Yes."

"Could I kill someone?"

"Yes."

"Am I gonna kill someone?"

"You probably will." Keith follows as Fletcher leans on one of the wooden poles. "Look, I can show you how to remember. I can show you how to control the shift, even on a full moon. But it's not gonna come for free."

"What do you want?"

"You'll find out. But for now, I'm gonna give you what you want. Go back to the bus, go inside, see it, feel it. Let your senses, your sight, smell, touch...Let them remember for you." Keith instructed.

"That's it?" He asked. "Just...just go back?"

"Do you want to know what happened?"

"I just want to know if I hurt him."

"No, you don't. You want to know if you'll hurt her."

* * *

><p><strong>"I bought a skeptic's point of view from a man certain about his state in a world he never loved." - The Sun, Research Material<strong>


	6. The Other Wolf

**[Forest]**

Ryder helps Jade up a hill and she almost falls backwards from falling in a hole. Ryder catches her before she can tumble. "Oh! Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Jade says laughing. "I think you just earned your masculinity back."

She snatches out her phone and looks at it. "What are you doing?" Ryder questioned.

"I'm just texting Cat "thank you for the birthday stuff"."

"No. If mine's off, then yours is, too."

"So we're disconnecting from the world?"

"You can handle that from one day, right?"

"Uh, just this one text, and then I will be all yours, okay?" Jade grabs the phone from Ryder's hand and texts Cat. "Okay." She says and closes her phone. She looks at Ryder and he's smiling.

_**[Cat's Room]**_

"Well, I'm gonna...go." Robbie announced as he stood at the door. "Uh, I'll let you get back to the whole post-traumatic stress thing." Robbie almost closes the door but stops when he hears a soft "stay" from Cat.

"Me? Stay? You want me to stay?" He walks to her bed and sits down.

Cat sits up and looks at him. "Mmm-hmm, yes, please. Stay." She rubs his face and then says, "Andre."

"And..." Robbie drags as Cat sleepily plops onto the bed. "We're done here."

Cat's phone beeps and Robbie looks to see it on her night stand.

"You want me to get that?" Robbie asks a sleeping Cat.

"It's a text." He says when he grabs a phone. "I don't know how to..." He then realizes it's a recording of the alpha jumping out of the window Cat caught by accident.

**[Hale House]**

Kate and two guys walk up to the Hale house with Ulrich and Leveque. "He wants us to wait." Ulrich states as he holds a gun up to the house.

"So I've been reminded..." Kate responds and looks at him. "...To death."

"And that means we're not allowed to kill him." Leveque tells her.

Kate then smirks evilly. "But that doesn't mean we can't say hello." The rifle cocks as they start walking toward the house. Kate kicks open the door and they go in.

"No one's home." Leveque points out.

"Oh, he's here. He's just not feeling particularly hospitable."

"Maybe he's burying a bone in the backyard." Ulrich jokes then Leveque and Kate look at him.

"Really, a dog joke? We're going there, and that's the best you got? If you wanna provoke him, say something like, "Too bad your sister "bit it" before she had her first litter. Too bad she howled like a bitch when we cut in half!" Kate shouts as she walks into the living room. Growling erupts and Derek shows up in werewolf form, growling as long as he could.

Derek grabs the railing to the door and pushes Ulrich and Leveque to the floor, leaving Kate all on her own. Derek growls as Kate gets out her weapon. Electricity crackles as Derek jumps and the weapon connects to his body.

"Wow. This one grew up in all the right places." Kate taunts as she circles Derek. "I don't know where to kill it or...lick it."

**[Robbie's Room]**

"Hey, it's me again. Look, I found something, I don't know what to do, okay? So if you could turn your phone on right now, that'd be great. Or else I'll kill you." Robbie left Ryder a voicemail as he paced around his room. "Do you understand me? I'm gonna kill you. And I'm too upset to come up with a witty description about how exactly I'm gonna kill you, but I'm just gonna do It, okay? I'm gonna..." Robbie realizes the phone got cut off. "Ugh! Goodbye."

He throws his phone onto his bed and sighs as he sits down on his chair and outs his head on his arms when there's a sudden knock at the door. He gasps as he looks up to see his dad.

"Please tell me I'm gonna hear good news at this parent/teacher thing tonight."

"Depends on how you define "good news"." Robbie tells him.

"I define it as you getting straight A's with no behavioral issues."

"You might wanna rethink that definition." Robbie responded as he picked at an eraser.

"Enough said." Sheriff walked away. He grabs Cat's phone and plays the recording once again.

"Come on, Ryder. Where the hell are you?" Robbie whispers.

**[Forest]**

Ryder and Jade walk down the path holding hands. They walk across the pond and step on the rocks in order to get to the other side.

Ryder almost falls but Jade catches him, laughing as she holds him close. Jade walks a little further before stepping into the water. As she sits beside Ryder, they kiss. They walk along a bridge and when Ryder gets a little bit ahead of her, she runs after him and jumps on top of him.

**[Robbie's Room]**

Robbie impatiently waits for Ryder and grabs Cat's phone. He sees the video at pause on the Alpha's face. He then presses the 'delete' button.

_**[Hale House]**_

Kate keeps zapping the weapon as Derek tries to get up. She keeps a slow pace behind him, following his every move. He leans onto a chair and lunges toward Kate but she buzzes her weapon and puts it on him which makes him fall and roll over to the stairs. Kate laughs and walks toward him.

"Oh. 900,000 volts." Kate sighs and looks at a helpless and weak Derek trying to sit up. He finally is able to sit up and lean against the door. "You never were good with electricity, were you?" Kate asked. "Or fire." She chuckles. "Which is why I'm gonna let you in on a little secret. And, well, maybe we can help each other out. Yes, your sister was severed into pieces and used as bait to try to catch you. Unpleasant and frankly, a little too Texas Chainsaw Massacre for my taste, but quite true..." Kate chuckles as she sits in front of Derek. "Now, here's the part that might really kick you in your balls...we didn't kill her."

By the look Derek his giving her, Kate can tell he doesn't believe her. Heck, who could believe Kate? For all these years, she's been lying and lying. "You think I'm lying?"

"It wouldn't be the first time." Derek states.

"Tsk, sweetie...Well..." Kate gets up and walks toward him. She kneels in front him. "Why don't you just listen to my heart and tell me if I am. Okay? We..." Kate leans in closer. "...Didn't...Kill...Your...Sister." Her heart beats steadily, meaning she wasn't lying. "Do you hear that? There are no blips or upticks. Just the steady beat of the cold, hard truth." Kate gets up and walks away. She then turns back to him.

"Found bite marks on your sister's body, Derek. What do you think did that? Something like a mountain lion?" Kate clicks her weapon closed. "Why aren't we helping each other out? You might as well admit what you've been guessing all along, which is... that the alpha killed your sister. And all you have to do is tell us who he is, and we'll take care of it for you. Problem solved, and everybody goes home happy."

"Unless..." Kate continues. "You don't know who he is either."

Kate starts laughing. "Wow. Guess who just became totally useless?"

Before gunfire starts, Derek runs out of the house quickly.

_**[Animal Clinic]**_

Dogs bark as Dr. Deaton walks out of the room. "Hey, Ryder, it's me again. I'm just calling to make sure that everything's okay. You were supposed to be here an hour ago. Maybe you forgot. Well, whatever it is, just give me a call and let me know that everything's okay. All right, thanks." The doorbell jingles as Dr. Deaton ends the call. Sheriff appears behind him.

"Sheriff Shapiro." Dr. Deaton saw his reflection in the glass.

"Listen, I hate to bother you, but, uh, I'm having a bitch of a time getting a consensus on what this is we're dealing with."

"I'm really flattered you've come to me for help, but like I said before, I'm no expert."

"But you were pretty certain the other day about our attacker being a mountain lion."

"That's right."

"I wanna show you something." Sheriff put the file on the table and took some pictures out. "We got pretty lucky here. Uh, the video store didn't have any cameras, but a security camera that was watching another parking lot happen to grab a few frames. Take a look at our mountain lion."

In one of the pictures showed the alpha about to jump through the window. "Here's another." The alpha was running away in another picture.

"It's interesting."

"Actually, uh, this is the interesting one." The last picture didn't show the alpha but showed a man walking on two legs in human form.

"I see what you mean."

"I've never seen a mountain lion do that."

"I can't say I have either. You've got a problem here."

"My first instinct was it was a bear, but bears don't walk on two legs."

"No, they drop to all fours." Dr. Deaton looks at the dogs as they bark. He then turns his attention to Sheriff Shapiro. "Look, like I said, you really need an expert here."

"Yeah, yeah, but could this still be a mountain lion...?"

"I'm sorry. I've got a sick Doberman hat that needs my attention." Dr. Deaton starts walking to the dogs.

"No other ideas?"

"I'm sorry. Really, I wish I could help you, but I've got a sick..."

"Yeah; dog; I heard you." Sheriff pauses. "Thanks for humoring me again."

_**[Forest]**_

Ryder and Jade quickly run to Jade's car. Jade unlocks the door and gets in. Ryder gets in and buckles himself. She chuckles as she starts the car. "So, being completely honest, this was..." She looks for the right words. "This was kind of a perfect birthday."

"Good. I'd know if you were lying anyway."

"Oh really..."

"You have a tell." Ryder responds her. "You touch your eyebrow right here." Ryder strokes Jade's eyebrow and she chuckles.

"Let's see if you can figure out if I'm lying now. Uh..." She grabs his hand. "I wish that my parents weren't coming home from the teacher conferences so...I could spend the rest of the day with you."

"The rest of the day...?"

"Well, for the rest of the night." Jade corrects herself.

Ryder smiles a bit then remembers the parent/teacher conference. "Oh god," He lowers. "The parent/teacher conferences; I'm supposed to be there. Ugh, I'm below "C" on, like, everything."

"Well, they're going on now." states Jade. "Like right now."

_**[Chemistry Class]**_

"Andre's a highly motivated student." Adrian tells his adoptive parents. "In fact, I'd describe him as "unusually driven."

"Yeah, we were hoping he might ease up on himself a little."

Andre is on the field, drinking. He drops the beer and picks up his lacrosse stick.

"_He's always been real hard on himself. It's just, you know, something we assumed was an effect of him being adopted."_

"_I think I understand. He's never met his biological parents."_

"_Yeah, that's right. It's the need to please, the overachieving, and the desire to make someone proud...someone he's never even met."_

Andre throws the ball against the tree but meant for it to land in the little bowl on the tree.

"_Something certainly seems to have recalibrated, his desire for achievement several notches higher. Not to be too blunt about it, but he seems almost obsessed._

_**[Classroom]**_

"Let me tell you, there's plenty to say about Cat." The teacher speaks.

Mr. Valentine laughs and looks at Mrs. Valentine, his ex-wife. "Did I not predict this?"

"Here we go; total nuclear meltdown as usual."

"What is it?" Mr. Valentine asks. "Is it her grades, here concentration issues, erratic behavior?" He picks up a fight.

"I'm not the one who told her she had to choose who she wants to live with, as if that wouldn't warp a 16 year old girl." Mrs. Valentine argues.

"Just tell us what the problem is."

"I wasn't aware that there was a problem." The teacher chuckles. "Academically, Cat's one of the finest students I've ever had."

Cat is at home, looking at the mirror seeing the mascara all shed. She puts some concealer under her eyes. She puts some blush on and curls her hair. She then puts some lip gloss on.

"_Her A.P classes push her GPA above a 5.0. I'd actually like to have her I.Q tested. And socially, she displays outstanding leadership qualities. I mean she's a real leader."_

**[Chemistry Class]**

"So, Robbie's a great kid."

_Robbie is on his bed, looking at some papers._

"_Zero ability to focus. He's super smart. He never takes advantage of his talents."_

"_How do you mean?"_

"_Well, for his final question on his midterm exam, he detailed the entire history of the male circumcision._

"_Well, I mean it does have historical significance, right? I mean..."_

"_I teach economics."_

"_Ah, crap." Sheriff mutters._

_**[Chemistry Class - Later]**_

"Where the hell are you?" Melissa asks Ryder on her phone. "Get to the school now." She ends the call and looks at Mr. Harris.

"How about we get started?" Mr. Harris suggests.

"Sure."

"Lately Ryder's mind has been somewhere else, so has his body. Personally, I think it may have something to do with his home situation."

"Oh, well, personally, I'm not sure what you mean by "home situation"."

"Uh, specifically the lacks of an authority figure."

"Yeah, I'm the authority figure, so..."

Mr. Harris chuckles. "Sorry. Allow me to clarify. I mean the lack of a male authority figure."

"Oh. Well, trust me; we're much better off without him in the picture."

"Does Ryder feel the same way?"

"Yes. I think so. I hope so."

_**[Jade's Car]**_

Jade speeds down the road as Ryder looks out the window. Street lights matched with his eyes making it look like he was turning into a werewolf.

"_But he's going through some difficult changes. He just needs extra attention, a guiding hand through this crucial stage of his development._

**[Classroom]**

"Jade West is an incredibly sweet girl, and she's quick to adjust, despite all the moving around."

"We know it's hard on her, but, uh, it's a necessary evil."

"Necessary or not, I'd be prepared for some..." The teacher sighs. "How do I put this?"

"Rebelliousness...?"

"We appreciate the concern," Mrs. West cuts Mr. West off and puts her hand on his arm. "But we have a great relationship with our daughter. It's very open and honest."

"I'm happy to hear that. And let her know that I hope she's feeling better."

"Oh, she wasn't in class?"

"Oh, she wasn't in school. I checked with the office."

_**[Outside School]**_

Jade and Ryder pull up to the school to see parents coming out of the school, ready to get home and relax for the rest of the night.

"Ryder, you need to call me right now." Ryder saw his mom calling him on her phone.

"Your mom...?" Jade asks as Ryder unbuckles himself and hides.

"Yeah, I'm dead. Ugh."

"Jade, answering your phone will make discussing the terms of your grounding much easier." Jade's dad left a message in her voicemail box. "Well, call me back before your punishment reaches biblical proportions."

"Kate hasn't heard from her either." Mrs. West informs him, catching up to him.

"She doesn't do this." By the time Mr. West finishes, Mrs. Daniels comes up to them.

"Excuse me; you're not Jade's parents are you? I'm Ryder's mom, and I hate to say it, but he's not answering his phone either."

"You're his mother?" Mr. West asked offensively.

"Funny how you say that like it's an accusation."

"Well, I wouldn't claim it as a source of pride since he basically kidnapped my daughter today." Mr. West spoke.

"Chris." Mrs. West tried to stop the fight from going any further.

"How do we know skipping school today wasn't your daughter's idea?"

"My daughter..." By the time Chris said that, a car door opened then shut. They see Ryder and Jade walking up to them. "...is right there."

Melissa and the West parents walk up to them, "Where exactly have you been?" Melissa asked with anger as she sped toward them.

"We've been nowhere, mom."

"Nowhere, meaning not at school."

"Kind of," Ryder confessed. Feeling bad for him, Jade decided to take the blame and defend him.

"It's not his fault. It's my birthday and we were..."

"Jade." Mr. West boomed as soon as he got to her. "Get in the car." Suddenly, a girl scream and a growl echoes. Everyone yells as they try to get away from the mysterious screaming cause. Ryder walks away; looking everywhere as Jade stays by her car. People rush to their car in fear as they try to get away. Ryder worries that it might be the Alpha or Derek. She walks away, looking around when a car comes hurdling toward her. She gasps and Ryder gets her out of the way in time.

"Are you okay?" Ryder asked, worried that he may not have gotten her away and her legs might've hit the car. "Alright."

"Move, Move!" Sheriff grabs his gun but his leg gets hit with a car. Mr. West goes to his car and grabs a gun. A gun bangs and the mysterious animal turned out to be a mountain lion.


	7. The Aunt

Kate Doyle drives down the road in the middle of the night, listening to the radio as she makes her way to Mr. Doyle's house. _"In news, local authorities remain perplexed by the animal attacks plaguing Los Angeles." _Kate scoffs and turns the channel. Pop music begins to play on the radio. Something passes her car and growls. When she is looking away from the window, a large animal appears beside her and its eyes glow bright red.

It disappears when she looks straight. The figure knows that once she sees him in the corner of her eye, bad things will happen.

First, she senses some weirdness and looks in the review mirror. She looks in the back and sees nothing. She looks everywhere and looks in the review mirror several times to check. When she looks back to her front, she sees car coming toward her. Luckily, he passes her car and speeds away and she screams. "Nice driving Kate, nice." Kate whispers to herself sarcastically.

Suddenly, there is a loud clank on the top of her car. She looks up in suspicion and slowly reaches for her gun in the back of the car but before she grabs it, a big hand breaks the window and attacks her. She fights it and it leaves. She grabs her gun, jumps out and points it at the buildings. She stands up and shouts, "Come on! Come on!"

Keith is running on the rooftop, tracking down the Alpha when he sees a little bit of blood on the ground. He bends down and then looks up when he hears a roar. He sees the Alpha leaving. As he starts running toward the direction the alpha went, searing pain rushes through him. Kate has shot him. As he leans against a building, he rolls his sleeve up to see a glowing blue hole in his arm. Kate walks to the back of her car and opens the trunk to reveal a bag of werewolf hunting supplies.

* * *

><p>Mr. Doyle walks toward the door and Olive's voice stops him. "What's going on?" She asked in a groggy voice.<p>

"Your Aunt Kate just texted; I'm heading out to pick her up."

"It's 2:00 in the morning. Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, she's just having car trouble."

"Not serious, is it?"

"No, it's just a flat tire. Go back to bed sweetheart." He says and Olive walks back to her room. Mr. Doyle leaves and drives to Kate's location.

* * *

><p>The gunshot wakes up Fletcher. He lifts up his head and then hears the gun again. He jumps up and gets some clothes on. He quietly walks down the halls and heads toward the bang.<p>

He slowly looks, still hiding, and sees Mr. Doyle and Kate talking.

"_Get in." Mr. Doyle orders her._

"_Not even, "Hello, nice to see you."_

"_All I've got at the moment is, 'Please put the assault rifle away before someone notices.'"_

_Kate scoffs. "That's the brother I love. Chris, there were two of them."_

"_The Alpha...?"_

"_I don't know but one of them tried to kill me." _Fletchercocks his ear to hear more.

"_One of them is gonna lead us to the other. He can't do that if he's dead."_

"_Well, I can't help kill either of them if one of them kills me first."_

"_How long will it take?"_

"_I give him 48 hours; if that." Kate mocks before walking to his car._

* * *

><p>The next morning, Kate is unpacking. "Whoo...!" Olive shouts, coming down the hall to the guest room Kate was staying in. Both of them laugh as they embrace each other in a hug. "I don't see you for a year, and you turn into a freaking runway model?" Kate complimented Olive as she walked to one of her bags.<p>

"Oh..." Olive denied and sat on the bed.

"Look at you." Kate said. "Oh! Hate you." Kate teased.

"I haven't even showered yet." Olive lays her head on her arm.

"Sweetie, you're a knockout. In fact, I hope you have the boys knocking each other's teeth out for your attention."

"I kind of have one."

"You kind of have one? Well, you should kind of have a million." Kate tells her and they both start laughing. Olive decides to help but Kate stops her from opening a bag. "No! Not that one! Oh. See? You turn out beautiful, and I end up with this kung Fu death grip. Sorry, sweetie. I didn't mean to be rough." Kate says picking up some clothes and walks to the closet.

"No worries." Olive responds. "Hey, is everything okay with your car?" Olive wonders.

"Uh, yeah, I just needed a jump start, that's all."

"It needed a jumpstart?"

* * *

><p>Fletcher sits in class, looking at the teacher as he passes out the test grades. Cameron taps Fletcher on the shoulder to ask him a question. "If Keith isn't the alpha, if he's not the one who bit you, and then who did?"<p>

"I don't know." Fletcher shrugs.

"Did the alpha kill the bus driver?"

"I don't know."

Cameron sits back and sighs. "Does Olive's dad know about the alpha?"

"I don't know!" Fletcher shouted and everyone looked at him.

"Jeez." Cameron says as the teachers put his test grade on his desk.

Fletcher gets his paper. The paper says "Not like you! See me after class." And it has a giant D on it.

Cameron looks over Fletcher's shoulder and sees the grade. "Dude, you need to study more." Fletcher throws his paper down as a sign of aggravation. "That was a joke." Cameron defends. "Fletcher, it is one test. You're gonna make it up. Do you want help studying?"

Fletcher sighs. "No. I'm studying with Olive after school today."

"That's my boy." Cameron smirks.

"We're just studying."

"Uh, no, you're not."

"No, I'm not?"

"Not if I'm forced to live vicariously through you. If you go to her house today and squander that colossal opportunity, I swear I'll have you de-balled."

"Okay, just...stop with the questions, man."

"Done; no more questions. No more talk about the Alpha or Keith...who still scares me."

* * *

><p>Keith walks down the hall, looking for Fletcher as he tries to look casual and not like he's dying. He sees Chad at his locker and heads towards him. "Where's Fletcher Quimby?"<p>

Chas looks at him and closes his locker. "Why should I tell you?"

"You should tell me because I asked you politely and I only do that once."

"Hmm. Okay, tough guy. You know, how about I help you find him if you tell me what you're selling him? What is it?" Chad asked, crossing his arms over his chest. "Is it, uh, Dianabol? Hm...Is it HGH?"

"It's steroids." Keith lies and he starts walking away.

"No, Girl Scout cookies...What the hell do you think I'm talking about? Oh, and, uh, by the way, whatever it is you're out selling, I'd probably stop sampling the merchandise. You look wrecked." Keith looks down and notices droplets of his blood falling on the floor

He made his hand into a fist and looked up at Chad. "I'll find him myself." Chad grabs his shoulder to stop him and Keith slams him against the lockers and sticks his claws into the back of Chad'a neck. Keith walks away and leans against a wall and is right under the school bell.

When the bell rings, he winces at the loudness and hears Lexi and Olive talking.

* * *

><p>"Is Fletcher coming over? Is he tonight?"<p>

"We're just studying together."

"Just studying" never ends with just studying. It's like getting into a hot tub...somebody eventually cops a feel."

"Well, so what are you saying?"

"I'm just saying, you know, make sure he covers up." Olivw is confused and Lexi chuckles. "Hello, Cinderella! I'm talking about a condom." Lexi chuckles and follows her up the steps.

"Are you kidding, even after one date?"

"Don't be a total prude. Give him a little taste."

"Well, I mean, how much is "a little taste"?"

"Oh, god, you really like him, don't you?"

"Well..." Olive sighs. "He's just different. When I first moved here, I had a plan: no boyfriends till college. I just move too much. But...then I met him, and he was different. I don't know." Olive laughs. "I can't explain it."

"I can. It's your brain flooding with phenylethylamine."

Olive laughs again. "What?"

Lexi just puts her head back, slightly annoyed. "I'll tell you what to do. When's he coming over?"

"He's coming right after school."

"Hmm..."

* * *

><p>Keith walks outside and onto the street where Cameron is about to drive off. Keith stops his car and Cameron's tires screech to a stop. "Oh, my god...!" Keith collapses and Cameron starts honking his horn. Fletcher looks up from his bike and sees the scene.<p>

"You've got to be kidding me. This guy's everywhere." Cameron tells himself.

"Oh, no, not here..." Fletcher runs to Cameron's car. "What the hell?" Cameron gets out and runs with Fletcher to Keith side.

"What are you doing here?"

"I was shot."

"He's not looking so good, dude." Keith glares at Cameron.

"Why aren't you healing?"

"I can't. It was...it was a different kind of bullet."

"Was it a silver bullet?" Cameron asks.

"No it wasn't, you idiot."

"Wait, wait. That's what she meant when you had 48 hours."

"What?" Keith asks, breathing heavily. "Who...who said 48 hours?"

"The one who shot you said that." Keith's eyes glow on and on as he groans and the pain gets worse. "What are you doing? Stop that!"

"That's what I'm trying to tell you, I can't!"

"Keith, get up!"

Full of wonder, Olive gets out of her car and walks toward the scene, but Fletcher and Cameron get him in Cameron's car before she makes it over there.

Fletcher closes the door. "I need you find out what kind of bullet they used."

"How the hell am I supposed to do that?"

"Cause she's a Doyle. She's with them."

"Why should I help you?"

"You should help me because you need me."

"Fine, I'll try." Fletcher sighs and looks in the distance. He then looks at Cameron who is starting to get in. "Get him out of here."

"I hate you for this so much." Cameron says as he starts the car. Cameron drives off just as Olive approaches Fletcher.

"Hey. What was he doing here?"

"Cameron was just, um, giving him a ride. Uh, long story."

"But I thought you said you weren't friends with him."

"No, not really. Um, we're still studying together, right? So, I'll meet you back at your place?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, bye." Fletcher kissed her on the cheek and went to his bike after Olive said, "See you later."

Fletcher gets on his bike and looks behind him to see Chad staring at him. Chad just gets back in his car next to Lexi.

* * *

><p>Fletcher speeds on his bike to Olive's house. He almost crashes into Olive's blue car, but stops just in time. He waves to her and she gets out. "How did you...you got here the same time I did." Olive walks to the door and Fletcher gets off to follow her.<p>

"Oh. Yeah, I...I just took a shortcut...a really short shortcut."

"What is going on with you today? You're acting all kinds of bizarre."

"I'm just..." Fletcher tries to find an excuse. "I'm just stressing about classes. I'm not doing as good this year."

"Not doing as well." Olive corrected him.

"See? Exactly." Fletcher says as they walk up the steps and Olive opens the door.

"Maybe we should start with English." Olive remarks as she walks inside and looks at Fletcher. He hesitates to go in. "Don't worry! Nobody's gonna be home for hours. Come on."

"Okay." Fletcher walks in and they head upstairs to Olive's room to see a few painted colors on her wall that hasn't fully been painted yet.

"I'm still unpacking." Olive informs him as she sets her books down.

"Uh, haven't you been here, for like, over a month?"

"I'm taking my time." Fletcher sets his jacket on her bed and she takes her leather jacket off which uncovers the top part of her blue flower dress.

"So, uh, I figure that we...start with um history..." Olive walks over to him and turns him around. She starts kissing him and they fall onto the bed. Fletcher kisses her back but with more passion. In the midst of their make-out, Fletcher's hand goes up and down her back and goes to her butt.

She laughs and keeps kissing him. When he looks, his claws are out. He quickly hides his hands under the quilt of her bed. "What's wrong?" Olive asks as she looks at his shocked face.

"Um...it's nothing. I just...I...don't want to make you feel like you have to do something you don't wanna do."

"I'm not doing anything I don't wanna do. Are you?"

"Seriously asking me that question?"

They both chuckle and Olive is about to kiss Fletcher when his phone rings. "Are you gonna answer that?"

"Um, uh, it's probably just Cameron. It'll go to voicemail eventually." Olive laughs and they go back to kissing. Since Fletcher was so nervous, Olive reached for his phone but Fletcher's hand came out as he tried to stop her and Olive immediately puts her hand back on his chest. Fletcher holds hand up to see his claws are gone.

Olive sits up and looks at him. "Uh, yeah, I should answer now."

Fletcher sits up and gets his phone to see a text from Cameron.

_Cameron (Mobile)_

_Did you find it yet?_

* * *

><p>Cameron drives down the road as a pale Keith sits beside him, wincing at the pain. He takes out his phone when his phone buzzes.<p>

_Fletcher: Need more time._

Cameron bangs his phone on the seat. "Come on." Cameron looks to see blood dripping onto the seats. "Hey, try not to bleed out on my seats, okay? We're almost there."

"Almost where...?"

"Your house..." Cameron sighs.

"What? No, you can't take me there."

"I can't take you to your _own house_?" Cameron scoffs.

"Not when I can't protect myself." Cameron pulls to the side of the road.

"What happens if Fletcher doesn't find your little magic bullet?" Cameron asks. "Hm...? Are you dying?"

"Not yet." Keith says as he breaths heavily. "I have a last resort."

"What do you mean? What last resort?" Cameron shouts as Keith pulls up his sleeve and a steep arm mountain with a puddle of blood shows up. "Oh, my god...! What is that?" Cameron groans in disgust. "Oh, is that contagious? You know what; you should probably just get out."

"Start the car...now."

"I don't think you should be barking orders with the way you look, okay. In fact, I think if I wanted to, I could probably drag your little werewolf butt into the road and leave you for dead."

"Start the car, or I'm gonna rip your throat out...with my teeth." Keith threatens. With no choice, the engine starts up and Cameron drives off.

* * *

><p>Fletcher turns his ringer off and Olive sits beside him. "It's off. Sorry about that." Flrtcher looks at a box where he sees a picture of Mr. Doyle and Kate. "Who's this?" Fletcher asks as he picks it up and points at Kate.<p>

"That's my dad's sister Kate, except she's more like my sister. She got here last night."

"Uh, last night...?"

"Yes. She had some car trouble, I guess."

"She looks familiar."

"Mmm, she actually used to live in Auburn Hills. Maybe you saw her once." said Fletcher as she looked at the picture.

Fletcher looks at her and then puts the picture down. He sees more pictures and takes them out. "Did you take these?" Fletcher chuckles.

"Back when I thought I was a photographer."

"They're good." Fletcher compliments them as he flips through the pages, looking at each and every one of them.

"No, they're not." Olive denies. "I stopped when I realized I was terrible at it." Olive takes them and points out its flaws. "Framing's off, bad lighting...believe me, not good."

Fletcher then takes out papers with designs on them. He looks at one that has a pair, apple, banana, and orange painted on it. "That was when I thought I was into painting." Olive explains. "Uh, that's terrible, too."

Fletcher sees a folder titled _Poetry _and grabs it. "That's when I tried poetry. "Terrible" doesn't even come close to describing that." Olive laughs as she looks at the previous painting they had looked at.

"What are you good at?"

"I'm gonna show you if you promise not to laugh." Olive informed him.

Fletcher and Olive get up and she guides him to the garage. She opens the door and they walk into a huge garage. "So I was naturally ranked as a kid, and my dad really wanted me to go on, but I don't know." Olive walks to a box as Fletcher closes the door. "I just didn't really like it. Promise you won't laugh?" Olive asks as Fletcher looks around.

"I promise." Fletcher turns around to see Olive holding up a blue compound bow with a green string at the end. He jumps back. "What the hell is that?"

"It's a compound bow, and I'm pretty sure it requires an arrow to be harmful."

"So that's what you good at." Fletcher pointed out. "Archery..."

Olive gets up after putting the compound bow up. "You said you wouldn't laugh." Olive chuckles.

"Trust me, I'm..." Fletcher trails off after seeing a bunch of guns and bullets. "Not laughing." He finishes. Fletcher slowly walks to them, analyzing every one of them.

"So I guess I should explain." Olive says and walks toward him. "We're not some sort of separatist gun-nut family. My dad sells firearms to the law enforcement."

"Oh, that's good." Fletcher lied since she knew that she was lying and her family was lying to her.

"So, um...are you planning on joining the family business?"

"I don't know. You tell me." Olive pulls Fletcher closer to her. "Would I look hot with a gun?" Olive leans against a shelf and wraps arm's arms around her.

"You'd look hotter without." Fletcher says then kisses her. The door creaks open and she gasps. She drags Fletcher over to the side of her dad's car and duck.

"Hey, Chris, get your ass out of the '50s and come help with groceries." They hear Kate shout in the distance.

"Be right there!" Chris shouts as he puts a box down. He walks to the edge of his car and looks at the supplies. He looks down at them, signaling he saw them before they hid.

"You two mind helping?" Olive and Fletcher nod and get up to walk outside of the house and help with groceries.

Fletcher takes the last bag out of Kate's car and walks towards the door but Chris stops him before he's able to walk up the steps and go in. He takes the bag and holds it. "Thank you." Chris says. Fletcher's phone chimes.

_Cameron (Mobile)_

_Keith isn't looking so good_

Olive comes out and walks toward him. He looks up and sees her. "So, do you still want to study?"

"I think she'll concentrate on her own." Mr. Doyle tells him as Kate walks up after closing the car's trunk.

"Um...guess I'll see you later then." Fletcher tells her.

"You'll see her at school." Mr. Doyle doesn't let Olive talk. Fletcher and Olive are about to hug when Mr. West stops them. "Hey, hey, you, on your bike." He points to Fletcher and his bike then points to Olive. "You, inside."

"Oh, come on, Chris." Kate starts. "Really...? They were making out in the garage, not shooting amateur porn." She points out. She puts her hand on Fletcher's shoulder and looks at him. "You, with the adorable blue eyes, drop your bike. You're staying for dinner."

She walks away into the house and Olive looks at him and smiles forcefully. She then follows Kate. Mr. Doyle looks at Fletcher. "You eat meat?" Fletcher nods eagerly but quickly stops.

"You don't mind?" Fletcher asks as he reaches Mr. Doyle.

"Actually, no...Give us a chance to get to know each other."

They walk in and head to the kitchen.

* * *

><p><strong>"Untouched by all the dirt and grime. Sooner or later, you'll be knee deep. Open your eyes and wade through, just like a US troop I'm dodging bullets like a matador cape to the bull." - Setback, The Constellations<strong>


	8. Scars From the Fire

Soon, Fletcher and Olive are getting the table ready together. As she puts a cup down, she says, "He doesn't hate you. He's just protective."

"He hates me." Fletcher says, walking around her to put another plate down.

"I wouldn't call it hate."

Fletcher asks, "Intense dislike...?"

"That's more like it." Olive nods.

"Should I just not say anything?"

"No," She whines. "I want you to say stuff, just don't say anything stupid." She sees him looking at her and chuckles a little bit. "Not that you're going to. Just...okay, just be the amazingly charming, sweet guy that you always are. And be confident because he will like you if you're confident."

"Don't I look confident?"

"You will when you stop sweating." She chuckles when Fletcher exhales and wipes his forehead. "You're gonna be great. I'm not worried." Olive hesitantly walks away like she's gonna say something, but she goes to the kitchen pantry.

Soon, everyone is at the dinner table. Fletcher's heart beats loudly as dishes clank. "Would you like something else to drink besides water, Fletcher?" Mrs. Doyle asked.

"Oh...no, I'm good. Thanks."

"Get you some beer?" Mr. Doyle started challenging Fletcher to see if he was a bad boy.

Olive and Fletcher looked at him. "No thanks."

"Shot of tequila?"

"Dad, really?" Olive looked at him with a look of embarrassment.

"You don't drink, Fletcher?"

"I'm not old enough to."

"That doesn't seem to stop many teenagers." Mrs. Doyle joins the conversation.

"No, but it should."

"Good answer." said Kate. "Total lie but well played, Fletcher." She adds then continues. "You may yet survive the night." She looks at Mr. Doyle as she puts a bite of meat in her mouth.

"Ever smoke pot?" Olive slams her cup down in anger and sits back and Fletcher almost chokes on his water.

"Okay, changing the channel to something a little less conservative." Kate said as she laughed.

**Olive's POV**

Thank god for Kate. Thank you for making things less awkward than they were the previous minute.

"So, Fletcher, uh, Olive tells us you're on the lacrosse team." Kate strikes up a different subject. "I'm sorry. I don't know anything about that. How do you play?"

"Um, well, you know hockey?"

"Mmm-hmm."

"It's a lot like that, but we only, um, play on grass instead of ice."

"Hockey on grass is called field hockey." What's the difference, Dad?

"Oh." AWKWARD is the description of this dinner.

"So, it's _like_ field hockey." I say. "Except the sticks have nets."

"Exactly." Fletcher's phone chimes right after he says that.

"And can you slap check in field hockey?" Fletcher looks at his phone as Kate asks.

"Um...yeah." He says looking up at her. "But it's only the, uh, the gloves and the sticks."

"It sounds violent. I like it." Kate looks at dad, possibly trying to annoy him.

"Fletcher amazing, too. Dad came with me to the first game." I inform Kate. "Wasn't he good?"

"He was fine."

"He scored the last shot, the winning shot."

"True, but he didn't score at all until the last few minutes."

I ignore him. "His last shot ripped a hole through the goalie's net. It was incredible." I say as I pick up my drink and take a sip of my water.

"Well, I think the goalie was probably playing with a defective stick, so..." I get annoyed and put my drink down with a bang and a clank.

Fletcher takes my hand and holds it. "You know, on second thought, um...I think I'll take that shot of tequila." I smile and mom and Kate laugh.

"You were kidding, right?" Dad asks as he holds his drink up.

"Yeah."

* * *

><p><strong>Nobody's POV<strong>

"What am I supposed to do with him?" Cameron asks Fletcher who's on the other line.

"_Take him somewhere, anywhere._"

Cameron sighs and complains about Keith's smell. "And, by the way, he's starting to smell."

"_Like...like what?"_

"Like death."

"_Okay, take him to the animal clinic."_

"What about your boss?"

"_He's gone by now. There's a spare key in the box behind the dumpster." _Cameron sighs and hands the phone to Keith.

"You'll never believe where he's telling me to take you." He informs Keith.

"Did you find it?" Keith asks.

"_How am I supposed to find one bullet? They have a million. This house is like the freaking Wal-Mart of guns."_

"Look, if you don't find it, then I'm dead, all right?"

"_I'm starting to think that wouldn't be such a bad thing."_

"Then think about this. The alpha called you out against your will. He's gonna do it again. Next time, you either kill with him or you get killed. So if you want to stay alive, then you need me. Find the bullet." Keith takes the phone away from his ear and ends the call.

* * *

><p>Fletcher puts his phone down and hesitantly walks to the garage door. When he puts his hand on the handle and turns it, the alarm blares. Kate clears her throat and Fletcher turns around to see a suspicious look on her face. "You look like a little lost puppy."<p>

"Um..." Fletcher tries to find an excuse. "I'm just trying to find the bathroom."

"You're looking for the bathroom?" Kate asked. "Does that look like a bathroom?"

"No." Fletcher says, nodding his head.

"Use the guest bedroom." Kate points down the hall.

"Okay." Fletcher starts walking to the door and turns around to see Kate standing there with a suspicious look on her face. He goes in and quietly closes the door. He is about to walk to the bathroom but catches something in the corner of his eye. He sees the bag under Kate's bed. He walks to it and kneels down next to it. He quietly unzips the bag and opens it to see tons of bullets.

He grabs a little brown box. He opens it and sees 9 out of 10 bullets there. He takes one and holds it up. His eyes turn yellow. He puts it in his pocket and closes the box. He looks back at the door and it's still closed. He looks at the top of the box and it reads,

_ACONIT NAPEL BLEU NORDIQUE_

He pulls out his phone and translates it.

_ACONIT NAPEL BLEU NORIQUE - Nordic Blue Monkshood._

He quickly puts his phone in his pocket, put the box back in the bag, and zip it.

* * *

><p>Cameron opens the door to be greeted by dogs barking. His phone beeps as Keith walks in and sits on some bags of dog food. "Does Nordic blue monkshood mean anything to you?" Cameron asks as he reads the text from Fletcher.<p>

"It's a rare form of wolf's bait. He has to bring me the bullet."

"Why?"

"Because I'm gonna die without it."

* * *

><p>Fletcher walks into the dining room to see them eating. "Hey, um, I should get going. Um, thanks for the dinner."<p>

"Oh, no, no, no, no, no, you have to stay for dessert. I wanna know about you." Kate stops him from leaving. "Sit down." She orders, pointing to the chair beside Olive.

"Olive was just telling us that you work for a veterinarian."

"I told them how you put the cast on the dog I hit." His phone chimes for the 18th time that night.

_Cameron (Mobile)_

_You need to get here NOW_

"What does your boss think of the animal attacks?" Mr. Doyle asks. "You have any theories?"

"Everyone was just saying it's a mountain lion." Kate laughs.

"It'd have to be a pretty large mountain lion."

"What do you think, Fletcher?"

"I don't know. We usually get cats and dogs at the vet, but nothing that vicious."

"Never had to deal with a rabid dog?"

Fletcher nods his head. Mr. Doyle starts to tell an old childhood story, "Oh. I grew up with a lot of dogs. I saw one dog get rabies from a bat. It was transferred into a bat. You know, people think that a rabid dog just suddenly goes mad. It's a lot more gradual. First stage is subtle changes in behavior. They're restless, morose. It's the second stage that people know, the furious stage. That's when they attack. And we're talking about any moving object. Did you know that a caged rabid dog will break its own teeth, trying to chew through the bars? It'll even rear back and snap its own spine. Can you imagine the amount of force it would take to do that? It's completely character reversal. This harmless animal...turned into a perfectly vicious killer. And it all started with that one bite."

"But it died, didn't it?" Olive asked, slightly annoyed.

"Yes, because your grandfather shot it." Mrs. Doyle answers.

"He shot it because he wanted to put it out of its misery."

"He shot it because it was too dangerous." Mr. Doyle corrects. "Something that out of control is better off dead."

* * *

><p>Cameron opens the doors to the emergency room and Keith holds onto him, half-passed out and looking even paler. "Well, okay. Okay." He slaps Keith's hand off and Keith goes to the table as Cameron turns on the light. "You know, that really doesn't look like anything some Echinacea and a good night sleep couldn't take care of." Cameron points out.<p>

"When the infection reaches my heart, it could kill me." Keith explains. He walks to a cabinet and opens it then closes it, not finding anything.

"Positivity" just isn't in your vocabulary, isn't it?"

"If he doesn't get here with the bullet in time..." Keith opens a drawer. "There's a last resort."

"Which is?" Keith takes out a saw.

"You're gonna cut off my arm." Cameron gags a little.

* * *

><p>Fletcher is ready to leave and Olive comes back downstairs, carrying his backpack. "I'm so incredibly sorry." She apologizes for her family's behavior.<p>

"For what...?" Fletcher asks as they walk to the door.

"For that being the worst, most horribly awkward dinner ever in the history of horribly awkward dinners."

"No. Uh, it wasn't the worst. There was this one dinner where my parents told me they were getting a divorce." Fletcher informs her. "This comes close in at close in a second." Olive just smiles and pulls Fletcher in for a kiss.

"Your dad's watching." Fletcher whispers.

"Good." They kiss and then pull away. Fletcher is about to walk out when Kate stops them.

"Wait a second, guys."

"What is it?" Olive asks.

"Uh, I have to ask Fletcher something."

"Me?"

"Yeah, you." Kate closes the door. "Uh..." Kate chuckles. "What'd you take from my bag?"

"What?"

"My bag; what'd you take from it?"

"What's going on?" Olive's dad asks, walking in.

There is a long pause. "Do you need me to repeat the question, maybe enunciate more clearly?"

Mr. Doyle asks, "What are you talking about?"

"My bag was open in the guest room, and when I left it was shut. And Fletcher comes in to use the bathroom, he leaves, my bag's open."

"He didn't take anything..." Olive protested, trading glances between her dad, Fletcher and Kate.

"Something was taken from my bag. Now, look...I hate to be the accuser here, Fletcher, because I really do love those adorable blue eyes, but I don't know if you're a klepto, if you're curious," Kate laughs. "Or if you're just stupid. But answer the question. What did you take?"

"I didn't take anything. I swear."

"You don't mind proving it, do you?"

"Are you serious?" Olive asks.

"How about you show us what's in your pockets?"

"Dad...?"

"Come on, Fletcher. Prove me wrong."

"Uh, I'll prove you wrong. Uh, it wasn't Fletcher going through your bags. It was me." Olive takes the blame.

"You...?"

"Yep, it was me." Olive then pulls out a condom from her pocket that she had possibly gotten from Lexi. Fletcher looks at what's in her hand and his eyes widen. He leaves the house and jumps on his bike. He laughs a little bit as he heads to the vet.

* * *

><p>Keith hands the saw to Cameron. The saw buzzes.<p>

"Oh my god...!" Cameron groans, looking away. "What if you bleed to death?"

"It'll heal if it works." Keith says as he ties a blue rubber band around his arm over the bullet wound.

"Ugh. Look...I don't know if I can do this."

"Why not...?"

"Well, because of the cutting through the flesh, the sawing of the bone, and especially the blood!" Cameron shouts out the reasons.

"You faint at the sight of blood?"

"No but I might at the sight of a chopped off arm!" Cameron shouts. Keith sighs.

"Alright, fine. How about this? Either you cut off my arm, or I'm gonna cut off your head." Keith threatens.

"Okay, you know what; I'm so not buying your threats any..." Keith cuts him off by taking him by the shirt and buzzing the saw.

"Oh my god, okay, alright, bought, sold. Fine, I'll do it." Keith doesn't respond. He turns his head away from him. He lets go of Cameron and turns only to vomit a black liquid. "Holy God, what the hell is that?"

"It's my body trying to heal itself."

"Well it's not doing a very good job of it."

"Now, you gotta do it now."

"Look, honestly, I don't think I can."

"Just do it!" Keith yells, startling Cameron.

"Oh, my god...! Okay, okay." Cameron picks up the saw and puts the edge above Keith's bullet wound. Before he has to cut his arm off, he hears Fletcher call Cameron's name.

"Fletcher?" Fletcher runs in, panting. He sees what Cameron is about to do.

"What the hell are you doing?"

Cameron chuckles in relief. "Oh, you just prevented a lifetime of nightmares."

"Did you get it?" Keith asks. Fletcher takes it out of his pocket and hands it to Keith. Keith stands up, but loses conscious and faints which causes him to drop the bullet. Fletcher tries to catch the bullet but it goes into the vent. Cameron rushes to Keith's aid.

Fletcher puts his hands through the cracks and tries to get it. "Keith." Robbie says as he tries to wake him up. "Keith, come on, wake up. Fletcher, what the hell are we gonna do?"

"I don't know!" Fletcher shouts as he tries to get the bullet. "I can't reach it."

"He's not waking up!"

Fletcher sighs. "Come on."

"I think he's dying! I think he's dead!"

"Just hold on!" Fletcher makes his werewolf claws grow out.

"Please don't kill me for this!" Cameron says then punches Keith in the face. Fletcher is able to get the bullet out

"Ugh! Ow! God...!" Cameron winces at the pain.

"Give me..." Keith says and gets up. He pours the powder onto the table a gathers it all in the palm of his hand. He sticks all of it in the wound and falls, screaming and wincing at the pain of it healing. The wound disappears and Keith gets his color back.

"That...was...awesome!" Cameron shouted. "Yes!"

"Are you okay?" Fletcher asks as Keith sits up.

"Well, except for the agonizing pain."

"I'm guessing the ability to use sarcasm is a good sign of health." Cameron says. Keith gets up and glares at Cameron.

"Okay, we saved your life." Fletcher continues. "Which means you're gonna leave us alone, you got that? And if you don't, I'll go back to Olive's dad, and I'm gonna tell him everything..."

"You're gonna trust them?" Keith cuts Fletcher off. "You think they can help you?"

"Well, why not? They're a lot freaking nicer than you are."

"I can show you exactly how nice they are."

"What do you mean?"

* * *

><p>Fletcher and Keith arrive at Auburn Hills Crossing Home. "What are we doing here?" Fletcher asked as they got out of the car and started heading toward the building.<p>

He leads Fletcher to a dark room and Fletcher sees a man with a full head of hair, sitting in a chair, not moving or talking.

"Who is he?" Fletcher asks as Keith stares at the man.

"My Uncle Peter Hale..."

"Is he...like you, a werewolf?"

"He was. Now he's barely even human. Six years ago, my sister and I were at school, and our house caught on fire. Eleven people were trapped inside. He was the only survivor."

"So, what makes you sure that they set the fire?"

"Cause they're the only ones that knew about us."

"Well, then...they had a reason."

"Like what? You tell me what justifies this." Keith turns Peter's chair around and scars on half his face appear. Fletcher's eyes widen. "They say they'll only kill an adult, and only with absolute proof, but there were people in my family that were perfectly ordinary in that fire. This is what they do. And it's what Olive will do."

"What are you doing?" A female voice booms. "How did you get in here?"

"We were just leaving." Keith walks off and drags Fletcher, knowing that he'll keep staring.

* * *

><p>Olive quietly walks out of the house, phone on her ear. "Hey. Um...I just thought maybe I'd catch you before you went to sleep, but, uh...I wanted to say sorry again for tonight. So...call me." Olive ends the voicemail and starts walking back when she steps on some glass. She looks up and sees Kate's window. She walks toward it and sees a shard of glass. She picks it up and analyzes it. She then holds it in her hand, bouncing it up and down as she walks back inside.<p>

In the living room, Kate and Chris are talking. "The one that attacked me was big. It had width and power, but the one I shot was lean and fast."

"Well, that would be Keith Hale."

"Are you sure?"

"Mostly."

"Well, how do we know it's just two of them?"

"We don't yet. But if Derek's still alive, he will lead us to the Alpha." Kate starts making a fire in the fire place.

"Take the pack leader, and take the pack."

"We do it according to the code."

Kate scoffs. "You and the code."

"It's there for a reason, Kate."

"Of course." Kate lights a match and throws it into the fire place. "I always play by the rules."

* * *

><p><strong>"Add nice sugar and spice I'll take you on a cruise to somewhere nice you haven't been before. Love was meant for more." - The Wolf, Miniature Tigers<strong>


	9. Forgiving Birthdays

The Alpha is in the video store, watching the clerk fix a light while a horror movie is playing. Outside, Lexi and Chad pull up to the VIDEO 2C.

"Now, Hoosiers is not only the best basketball movie ever. It's the best sports movie ever made."

"No." Lexi denies. She didn't want to be watching sports movies. She was not interested.

"It's got Gene Hackman and Dennis Hopper."

"No."

"Lexi, I swear you're gonna like it."

"No."

"I am not watching The Notebook again!" Chad shouts out of frustration. Lexi just gives him a look and he gives up. He goes inside and tries finding the movie that he doesn't want to watch.

"Can somebody find The Notebook?" Chad asks as the store phone rings. "Hello?" Nobody answers. He looks around to see no one in here. "Is anybody working here?"

"You've got to be kidding me." Chad whispers to himself and walks down a few passageways. He sees a foot on the peeking out from one of the aisles. Out of curiosity, he walks over to see the store clerk lying on the floor, dead with his throat ripped out. He walks backwards in fear and the ladder falls down, and the light buzzes.

Lexi doesn't notice as she takes pictures of herself.

Chad breathes heavily as he gets up. He hears low growling and turns around to see a figure with red eyes, crouching to the ground, staring at Chad. He gasps and hides behind an aisle. He looks to see nothing there. The figure rushes by and growls louder.

Shelves bang as the fall on one another. Chad jumps out and lies on the floor, not being able to get fully out. He groans as the shelf crushes his legs. The alpha comes towards him but does nothing except look at the scratches from Keith. The Alpha jumps through the window, making Lexi scream very loudly.

* * *

><p>Darryl and Cameron are eating outside the police station in his car. "Mmm. Did they forget my curly fries?" Darryl asks as he takes a bite of his burger.<p>

"You're not supposed to eat fries, especially the curly ones." Cameron digs through the bag.

"Well, I'm carrying a lethal weapon. If I want the curly fries, I will have the curly fries."

"If you think getting rid of contractions in all your sentences makes your argument any more legitimate, you are wrong." Cameron says as he grabs his drink and starts drinking but when his police radio beeps, he tries not to poke himself while he gets it out of his mouth.

"Unit one, do you copy?" Cameron is about to copy it but Darry. slaps his hand away and clears his throat, giving him a stern look.

"Sorry." Cameron apologizes and goes back to finding his meal.

"Unit one, copy." Darryl says into the walkie talkie.

"I got a report a possible 187."

"A murder...?" Cameron asks his mouth full of curly fries.

* * *

><p>Sirens wail as Cameron and Darryl pull up the video store to see Chad standing up beside Lexi, who is sitting on the edge of the ambulance. "Stay here." Darryl orders, knowing his son that he was about to get out.<p>

"Why the hell can't I just go home?" Chad asks the doctor as Lexi takes his hand. "I'm fine." Darryl walks up to the crime scene and heads to Chad and Lexi.

"I hear you, but the EMT says you hit your head pretty hard. They just wanna make sure you don't have a concussion."

"What part of "I'm fine" are you having a problem grasping? Okay, I wanna go home."

"And I understand that."

"No, you don't understand, which kind of blows my mind since it should be a pretty basic concept to grasp for a minimum-wage-rent-a-cop like you!" Chad shouts as Cameron sneaks out of the car. "Okay, now I wanna go home!"

"Oh, wow, dad, is that a dead body?" Cameron loudly asks. Darryl looks at the gurney and then turns back to Cameron with a glare.

"Everybody, back up."

Fletcher and Keith are on top of the building, watching the crime scene. "Starting to get it?" Keith asked, taking a glance at Fletcher.

"Uh, I get that he's killing people, but I don't get why." Fletcher states his confusion. "I mean, this isn't standard practice, right? We don't go out in the middle of the night murdering everyone, do we?"

"No. We're predators. We don't have to be killers."

"Then why is he a killer?"

"That's what we're gonna find out." Keith speaks then walks away. Fletcher turns behind him and starts following him, suggesting that Keith decided it was time to leave. They don't notice the mysterious red spiral started to glow on top of the building

* * *

><p>"You know, I have a life, too." Fletcher says as they walk into Keith's house. Keith then starts walking up the stairs.<p>

"No, you don't."

"Yes, I do!" Fletcher shouts. "I don't care what you say about him making me his pet or..."

"He wants you to be a part of his pack." Keith interrupts.

"Whatever. I have homework to do. I have to go to a parent/teacher conference tomorrow, because I'm failing chemistry."

"You wanna do homework?" Keith asks. "Or do you wanna not die?" Keith sighs. "You have less than a week until the full moon. You don't kill with him, he kills you."

"Okay, seriously, who made up these rules?"

"It's a rite of passage into his pack."

"You know what else a rite of passage is?" Fletcher asks. "It's graduating from high school." He shouts. "And you don't have to kill anyone to do it. Why can't you just find him yourself? Why can't you just sniff him out when he's a human?"

"I can't because his human scent could be entirely different. It has to be you. You have a connection with him, a link that you can't understand. If I can teach you to control your abilities, you can find him."

"So if I help, you can stop him?"

"Not alone."

"We're stronger in numbers. A pack makes the individual more powerful."

"How am I supposed to help if I have no idea what I'm doing?"

"Because I'm gonna teach you. Do you remember what happened that first night you were shot in the arm? Right after you were hit?"

"Yeah, I changed back."

"Yep and when you were hit by his car, same thing, right?" Fletcher nodded as Keith walked closer to him. "What's the common denominator?"

Keith takes Fletcher's hands and pulls his fingers back. Fletcher groans in pain.

"What is...what the hell are you doing?"

"It'll heal."

"Ugh! It's still hurts!"

"And that's what keeps you human; pain. Maybe you will survive." Keith turns and starts walking up the steps some more. Fletcher glares at him.

* * *

><p>The next morning, Olive is gathering up her books and putting them in her bag. She puts her bag over her shoulder and Kate comes in, knocking.<p>

"Hey. Listen, you know how I feel totally horrible about my behavior the other night, right?"

"Oh, totally forgotten."

"No, not forgotten by me." Kate says. "Come one. Call me a "horrid bitch" or something."

"You were just...being protective."

"I was being a protective horrid bitch...who is...giving you your birthday present early so you'll forgive her." Kate pulls out a box from her back. They both giggle and Olive opens the box to see an amulet. "Forgiven?"

"You're forgiven completely. I love it." says Olive as she takes the amulet out of the box.

"It's a family heirloom. And you know me, I hate and loathe all sentimental crap, but that...well the symbol is similar in the middle of the pendant. See that?"

"Yeah..."

"You ever wanna learn a little something about your family...look it up."

"You're gonna make me work for it."

"Some mysteries," Kate puts the heirloom around Olive's neck. "...are worth the effort."

They both laugh and they embrace each other in a hug. Olive leaves to go to school.

* * *

><p>Olive walks down the hall to her locker. She opens it to be greeted by balloons. "Jesus." She mutters as she tries to put them back in her locker. She finds a card on the side and grabs it. She quickly reads it. "Lexi." She whispers.<p>

"Is today your birthday?" Fletcher asks when he comes over to see Olive holding the card and the balloons peeking out.

"No, no, uh, no," Olive puts the balloons back in her locker. "I mean, yes. Please don't tell anybody. I don't even know how Lexi found out."

"Why wouldn't you tell me?"

"I don't want people to know, because...I'm 17." Olive admits.

"Your 17...?"

"That's the reaction I'm trying to avoid."

"Why?" Fletcher asks. "I mean, I totally get it. Uh, you had to repeat a year because of all the moving around, right?" Olive looks at him, walks up to him. She then kisses him and pulls away to see Fletcher smiling. "What was that for?"

"For...literally being the first person to ever make the correct assumption. Everybody's all like "What...did you get held back?" "Did you ride the short bus?" Uh, "Did you have a baby?"

"That's what you hear on your birthday?"

"Oh, yeah, all day long."

Fletcher sighs, feeling bad for Olive. "Then...what if we get out of here?"

"Skip class?"

"Yeah, skip for the whole day."

"Well, you're asking someone who's never skipped one class to bail out the entire day, and I don't..." Olive walks back to her locker and opens it.

"If you get caught, then they'll go easy on you."

"Well what if you get caught?" Olive crosses her arms over her chest and walks toward him after closing her door.

"Let's...try not to think about that." Fletcher says as he leads Olive to the door.

* * *

><p>Adrian Harris is talking. "This is just a friendly reminder that parentteacher conferences are tonight. Students below a "C" average are required to attend. I won't name you because the shame and self-disgust should be more than enough punishment." He walks beside desks till he reaches Cameron's. He looks at Cameron to see him coloring on a sheet of paper with a yellow highlighter.

"Has anyone seen Fletcher Quimby?"

The door clicks open and shuts as Chad comes in. Mr. Harris walks to Chad and puts his hand on Chad's back. "Hey, Chad, if you need to leave early for any reason, let me know." After saying that, he walks to the board as he orders something. "Everyone, start reading chapter nine. Mr. Parks, try putting the highlighter down between paragraphs. It's chemistry, not a coloring book." Cameron spits the cap out and catches it in his hand when it goes to his side.

He looks at Danny and starts talking in a whisper. "Hey, Danny, can I ask you a question?"

"No."

"Well, I'm going to anyway. Um, did Lexi show up in your homeroom yesterday?"

Danny sighs, not wanting to answer the question. "No."

"Can I ask you another question?"

"Answer's still no."

"Does anyone know what happened to her and Chad last night?"

"He wouldn't tell me."

"But he's your best friend."

"One more question." Danny was getting stressed.

"What?"

"Do you find me attractive?" Cameron falls out of his seat, making a clattering sound.

* * *

><p>Olive and Fletcher run to her car and they get in. Olive has second thoughts about them ditching, seeing adults around makes her think that they'll see them ditching school. "Uh, maybe this is a bad idea. And my dad would kill me if he found out." Olive gets in the car as Fletcher puts on his seatbelt.<p>

"Do you always follow your dad's rules?"

"Not lately." Olive laughs.

"Good. Start the car."

Fletcher looks in the review mirror to see a cop car pulling up. "Where should we go?"

"Uh, I don't know, somewhere, anywhere."

"Nowhere I can be seen, right, because I could get detention."

"Can you please start the car now?"

"Or we could get suspended."

"Olive, start the car now." Olive starts the car and pulls out.

* * *

><p>In the locker room, Chad turns the water off at the sink and pats his face. He inhales sharply when he touches the claw marks on the back of his neck. The locker is empty once the door slams shut. Chad opens his locker and sprays on cologne. Two red eyes appear and Chad backs away. He then realizes it's a student that has red ear buds on. He then looks over to his side to see Keith.<p>

"Whoa, whoa," He gasps as he slams onto a locker. "I don't know where Fletcher is."

"I'm not here for Fletcher; I'm here for you." Keith walks toward him.

"Why me...? I didn't do anything."

"No, but you saw something, didn't you?"

"No, I didn't...I didn't see anything."

"What was it, an animal, a mountain lion?"

"I didn't see anything." Chad stammers. "I swear. I'm not lying."

"Then calm down and say it again."

"Say what? That I'm not lying?"

"Tell me that you didn't see anything! Say it slowly." Keith gets closer to him.

"I-I-I didn't see anything. I-I'm not lying."

"One more thing," Keith grabs his head and turns it so he can see the scratches. "You might want to get that checked out." He suggests before leaving.

* * *

><p>Cameron walks out of the classroom, cellphone on his ear as he tries to reach Fletcher.<p>

"_What?" _He hears Fletcher pick up.

"Finally...! Have you been getting any of my texts?"

"_Yeah, like all 9 million of them."_

"Do you have any idea what's going on? Lexi is totally M.I.A, Chad looks like he's got a time bomb inserted into his face, another random guy's dead, and you have to do something about it."

"_Like what?"_

"Something..."

* * *

><p>"Okay, I'll deal with it later." Fletcher stammers. "Left, left, left, left." He directs Olive. She puts her hand on his chest as she swerves into the forest.<p>

"Sorry, sorry." Olive apologizes. "I just totally soccer-mom'd you. I'm sorry."

"That's alright. I'll just pick up my masculinity on the way back."

Olive and Fletcher walk through the woods and Olive looks down at her phone. "You're still not okay with this, are you?" Fletcher asks.

"I just feel like I need an alibi."

"Well, if we get caught, I'll just say it was my fault."

"You don't need to take the blame for me. It was my choice too."

"Oh, good, because if we get caught, I'm totally gonna blame you." He teases.

Olive gasps and looks at him. "Oh, really...?"

"Hell yeah...! And they'd believe me. You know, totally beautiful girl asks you to skip the day with her. Like I'm gonna say no."

"So throw me under the bus, just like that?"

"Yeah, throw, push, shove..."

"And what if I decide to drag you down with me?" Olive asks, grabbing his jacket and turns in front of him.

"I'd just yell for help."

"Well, what if I did this?" Olive puts her pink colored lips on his and kissed him.

"I'd scream for help."

Olive kissed him again as he leaned against a tree.

"I'd beg for mercy." She pulls away and they put their foreheads on each other. She chuckles and kisses him again.

* * *

><p>Lexi is on her bed, looking at her pink painted nails when there is a knock at the door. "Honey, there's a Cameron here to see you." Lexi's mom says as she walks in. Cameron follows.<p>

"What the hell is a "Cameron"?" Cameron makes an offended face.

"She took a little something to ease her nerves. You can...you can go in."

"Thanks." Cameron walks in as Ms. Reed closes the door behind him. Lexi turns and looks at him.

"What are you doing here?"

"I was just making sure you were okay."

sits up and licks her lips. "Why?" She pats a spot so Robbie could sit down.

"Uh..." He chuckles and sits down.

"I was worried about you today. How are you feeling?" Because of her medicine acting up, she puts her arm on his shoulder.

"I feel..." She looks at him. "Fantastic." Robbie chuckles.

"Oh!" He sees a pill bottle on her night stand and grabs it. "I bet you can't say, uh, "I saw Suzy sitting in a shoeshine shop" ten times fast."

Cat gives him a competitive look. "I saw Shuzy..."

"Uh..."

"I shaw..." Cat then gets lost in space, remembering what happened the other night. She falls on the bed and looks at the wall. "I saw..."

"What? Cat, what did you see?"

"I saw something."

"Something like...like a mountain lion?"

"I saw a mountain lion."

"Are you sure you saw a mountain lion or are you just saying that because that's what the police told you?"

"A mountain lion..." Lexi repeats.

Cameron grabs her stuffed giraffe and holds it up. "What's this?" Cameron asks and Lexi turns to him.

"A mountain lion..."

"Okay. You're so drunk." Lexi lays her head on his thigh.

"Oh, my..." Cameron gasps.


	10. Mountain Lion

Fletcher helps Olive up a hill and she almost falls backwards from falling in a hole. Fletcher catches her before she can tumble. "Oh! Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Olive says laughing. "I think you just earned your masculinity back."

She snatches out her phone and looks at it. "What are you doing?" Fletcher questioned.

"I'm just texting Lexi "thank you for the birthday stuff"."

"No. If mine's off, then yours is, too."

"So we're disconnecting from the world?"

"You can handle that from one day, right?"

"Uh, just this one text, and then I will be all yours, okay?" Olive grabs the phone from Fletcher's hand and texts Lexi. "Okay." She says and closes her phone. She looks at Fletcher and he's smiling.

* * *

><p>"Well, I'm gonna...go." Cameron announced as he stood at the door. "Uh, I'll let you get back to the whole post-traumatic stress thing." Cameron almost closes the door but stops when he hears a soft "stay" from Lexi.<p>

"Me? Stay? You want me to stay?" He walks to her bed and sits down.

Lexisits up and looks at him. "Mmm-hmm, yes, please. Stay." She rubs his face and then says, "Chad."

"And..." Cameron drags as Lexi sleepily plops onto the bed. "We're done here."

Lexi's phone beeps and Cameron looks to see it on her night stan. "You want me to get that?" Cameron asks a sleeping Lexi.

"It's a text." He says when he grabs a phone. "I don't know how to..." He then realizes it's a recording of the alpha jumping out of the window Lexi caught by accident.

* * *

><p>Kate and two guys walk up to the Hale house with Ulrich and Leveque. "He wants us to wait." Ulrich states as he holds a gun up to the house.<p>

"So I've been reminded..." Kate responds and looks at him. "...To death."

"And that means we're not allowed to kill him." Leveque tells her.

Kate then smirks evilly. "But that doesn't mean we can't say hello." The rifle cocks as they start walking toward the house. Kate kicks open the door and they go in.

"No one's home." Leveque points out.

"Oh, he's here. He's just not feeling particularly hospitable."

"Maybe he's burying a bone in the backyard." Ulrich jokes then Leveque and Kate look at him.

"Really, a dog joke? We're going there, and that's the best you got? If you wanna provoke him, say something like, "Too bad your sister "bit it" before she had her first litter. Too bad she howled like a bitch when we cut in half!" Kate shouts as she walks into the living room. Growling erupts and Keith shows up in werewolf form, growling as long as he could.

Kieth grabs the railing to the door and pushes Ulrich and Leveque to the floor, leaving Kate all on her own. Keith growls as Kate gets out her weapon. Electricity crackles as Keith jumps and the weapon connects to his body.

"Wow. This one grew up in all the right places." Kate taunts as she circles him. "I don't know where to kill it or...lick it."

* * *

><p>"Hey, it's me again. Look, I found something, I don't know what to do, okay? So if you could turn your phone on right now, that'd be great. Or else I'll kill you." Cameron left Fletcher a voicemail as he paced around his room. "Do you understand me? I'm gonna kill you. And I'm too upset to come up with a witty description about how exactly I'm gonna kill you, but I'm just gonna do It, okay? I'm gonna..." Cameron realizes the phone got cut off. "Ugh! Goodbye."<p>

He throws his phone onto his bed and sighs as he sits down on his chair and puts his head on his arms when there's a sudden knock at the door. He gasps as he looks up to see his dad.

"Please tell me I'm gonna hear good news at this parent/teacher thing tonight."

"Depends on how you define "good news"." Cameron tells him.

"I define it as you getting straight A's with no behavioral issues."

"You might wanna rethink that definition." Cameron responded as he picked at an eraser.

"Enough said." Darryl walked away. He grabs Lexi's phone and plays the recording once again. "Come on, Fletcher. Where the hell are you?" Cameron whispers.

* * *

><p>Fletcher and Olive walk down the path holding hands. They walk across the pond and step on the rocks in order to get to the other side.<p>

Fletcher almost falls but Olive catches him, laughing as she holds him close. She walks a little further before stepping into the water. As she sits beside him, they kiss. They walk along a bridge and when he gets a little bit ahead of her, she runs after him and jumps on top of him.

* * *

><p>Cameron impatiently waits for Fletcher and grabs Lexi's phone. He sees the video at pause on the Alpha's face. He then presses the 'delete' button.<p>

* * *

><p>Kate keeps zapping the weapon as Keith tries to get up. She keeps a slow pace behind him, following his every move. He leans onto a chair and lunges toward Kate but she buzzes her weapon and puts it on him which makes him fall and roll over to the stairs. Kate laughs and walks toward him.<p>

"Oh. 900,000 volts." Keith sighs and looks at a helpless and weak Keith trying to sit up. He finally is able to sit up and lean against the door. "You never were good with electricity, were you?" Kate asked. "Or fire." She chuckles. "Which is why I'm gonna let you in on a little secret. And, well, maybe we can help each other out. Yes, your sister was severed into pieces and used as bait to try to catch you. Unpleasant and frankly, a little too Texas Chainsaw Massacre for my taste, but quite true..." Kate chuckles as she sits in front of Keith. "Now, here's the part that might really kick you in your balls...we didn't kill her."

By the look Keith his giving her, Kate can tell he doesn't believe her. Heck, who could believe Kate? For all these years, she's been lying and lying. "You think I'm lying?"

"It wouldn't be the first time." Keith states.

"Tsk, sweetie...Well..." Kate gets up and walks toward him. She kneels in front him. "Why don't you just listen to my heart and tell me if I am. Okay? We..." Kate leans in closer. "...Didn't...Kill...Your...Sister." Her heart beats steadily, meaning she wasn't lying. "Do you hear that? There are no blips or upticks. Just the steady beat of the cold, hard truth." Kate gets up and walks away. She then turns back to him.

"Found bite marks on your sister's body, Keith. What do you think did that? Something like a mountain lion?" Kate clicks her weapon closed. "Why aren't we helping each other out? You might as well admit what you've been guessing all along, which is... that the alpha killed your sister. And all you have to do is tell us who he is, and we'll take care of it for you. Problem solved, and everybody goes home happy."

"Unless..." Kate continues. "You don't know who he is either."

Kate starts laughing. "Wow. Guess who just became totally useless?"

Before gunfire starts, Keith runs out of the house quickly.

* * *

><p>Dogs bark as Dr. Deaton walks out of the room. "Hey, Fletcher, it's me again. I'm just calling to make sure that everything's okay. You were supposed to be here an hour ago. Maybe you forgot. Well, whatever it is, just give me a call and let me know that everything's okay. All right, thanks." The doorbell jingles as Dr. Deaton ends the call. Sheriff Parks appears behind him.<p>

"Sheriff Parks." Dr. Deaton saw his reflection in the glass.

"Listen, I hate to bother you, but, uh, I'm having a bitch of a time getting a consensus on what this is we're dealing with."

"I'm really flattered you've come to me for help, but like I said before, I'm no expert."

"But you were pretty certain the other day about our attacker being a mountain lion."

"That's right."

"I wanna show you something." Sheriff put the file on the table and took some pictures out. "We got pretty lucky here. Uh, the video store didn't have any cameras, but a security camera that was watching another parking lot happen to grab a few frames. Take a look at our mountain lion."

In one of the pictures showed the alpha about to jump through the window. "Here's another." The alpha was running away in another picture.

"It's interesting."

"Actually, uh, this is the interesting one." The last picture didn't show the alpha but showed a man walking on two legs in human form.

"I see what you mean."

"I've never seen a mountain lion do that."

"I can't say I have either. You've got a problem here."

"My first instinct was it was a bear, but bears don't walk on two legs."

"No, they drop to all fours." Dr. Deaton looks at the dogs as they bark. He then turns his attention to Sheriff Parks. "Look, like I said, you really need an expert here."

"Yeah, yeah, but could this still be a mountain lion...?"

"I'm sorry. I've got a sick Doberman hat that needs my attention." Dr. Deaton starts walking to the dogs.

"No other ideas?"

"I'm sorry. Really, I wish I could help you, but I've got a sick..."

"Yeah; dog; I heard you." Sheriff pauses. "Thanks for humoring me again."

* * *

><p>Fletcher and Olive quickly run to Olive's car. She unlocks the door and gets in. He gets in and buckles himself. She chuckles as she starts the car. "So, being completely honest, this was..." She looks for the right words. "This was kind of a perfect birthday."<p>

"Good. I'd know if you were lying anyway."

"Oh really..."

"You have a tell." Fletcher responds her. "You touch your eyebrow right here." Fletcher strokes Olive's eyebrow and she chuckles.

"Let's see if you can figure out if I'm lying now. Uh..." She grabs his hand. "I wish that my parents weren't coming home from the teacher conferences so...I could spend the rest of the day with you."

"The rest of the day...?"

"Well, for the rest of the night." Olive corrects herself.

Fletcher smiles a bit then remembers the parent/teacher conference. "Oh god," He lowers. "The parent/teacher conferences; I'm supposed to be there. Ugh, I'm below "C" on, like, everything."

"Well, they're going on now." states Olive. "Like right now."

* * *

><p>"Chad's's a highly motivated student." Adrian tells his adoptive parents. "In fact, I'd describe him as "unusually driven."<p>

"Yeah, we were hoping he might ease up on himself a little."

Chad is on the field, drinking. He drops the beer and picks up his lacrosse stick.

"_He's always been real hard on himself. It's just, you know, something we assumed was an effect of him being adopted."_

"_I think I understand. He's never met his biological parents."_

"_Yeah, that's right. It's the need to please, the overachieving, and the desire to make someone proud...someone he's never even met."_

Chad throws the ball against the tree but meant for it to land in the little bowl on the tree.

"_Something certainly seems to have recalibrated, his desire for achievement several notches higher. Not to be too blunt about it, but he seems almost obsessed." _

* * *

><p>"Let me tell you, there's plenty to say about Lexi." The teacher speaks.<p>

Mr. Reed laughs and looks at Ms. Reed, his ex-wife. "Did I not predict this?"

"Here we go; total nuclear meltdown as usual."

"What is it?" Mr. Reed asks. "Is it her grades, her concentration issues, erratic behavior?" He picks up a fight.

"I'm not the one who told her she had to choose who she wants to live with, as if that wouldn't warp a 16 year old girl." Ms. Reed argues.

"Just tell us what the problem is."

"I wasn't aware that there was a problem." The teacher chuckles. "Academically, Lexi's one of the finest students I've ever had."

Lexi is at home, looking at the mirror seeing the mascara all shed. She puts some concealer under her eyes. She puts some blush on and curls her hair. She then puts some lip gloss on.

"_Her A.P classes push her GPA above a 5.0. I'd actually like to have her I.Q tested. And socially, she displays outstanding leadership qualities. I mean she's a real leader."_

* * *

><p>"So, Cameron's a great kid."<p>

_Cameron is on his bed, looking at some papers._

"_Zero ability to focus. He's super smart. He never takes advantage of his talents."_

"_How do you mean?"_

"_Well, for his final question on his midterm exam, he detailed the entire history of the male circumcision._

"_Well, I mean it does have historical significance, right? I mean..."_

"_I teach economics."_

"_Ah, crap." Sheriff mutters._

* * *

><p>"Where the hell are you?" Melissa asks Fletcher on her phone. "Get to the school now." She ends the call and looks at Mr. Harris.<p>

"How about we get started?" Mr. Harris suggests.

"Sure."

"Lately Fletcher's mind has been somewhere else, so has his body. Personally, I think it may have something to do with his home situation."

"Oh, well, personally, I'm not sure what you mean by "home situation"."

"Uh, specifically the lacks of an authority figure."

"Yeah, I'm the authority figure, so..."

Mr. Harris chuckles. "Sorry. Allow me to clarify. I mean the lack of a male authority figure."

"Oh. Well, trust me; we're much better off without him in the picture."

"Does Fletcher feel the same way?"

"Yes. I think so. I hope so."

* * *

><p>Olive speeds down the road as Fletcher looks out the window. Street lights matched with his eyes making it look like he was turning into a werewolf.<p>

"_But he's going through some difficult changes. He just needs extra attention, a guiding hand through this crucial stage of his development._

* * *

><p>"Olive Doyle is an incredibly sweet girl, and she's quick to adjust, despite all the moving around."<p>

"We know it's hard on her, but, uh, it's a necessary evil."

"Necessary or not, I'd be prepared for some..." The teacher sighs. "How do I put this?"

"Rebelliousness...?"

"We appreciate the concern," Mrs. Doyle cuts Chris off and puts her hand on his arm. "But we have a great relationship with our daughter. It's very open and honest."

"I'm happy to hear that. And let her know that I hope she's feeling better."

"Oh, she wasn't in class?"

"Oh, she wasn't in school. I checked with the office."

* * *

><p>Olive and Fletcher pull up to the school to see parents coming out of the school, ready to get home and relax for the rest of the night.<p>

"Fletcher, you need to call me right now." Fletcher saw his mom calling him on her phone.

"Your mom...?" Olive asks as Fletcher unbuckles himself and hides.

"Yeah, I'm dead. Ugh."

"Olive, answering your phone will make discussing the terms of your grounding much easier." Chris dad left a message in her voicemail box. "Well, call me back before your punishment reaches biblical proportions."

"Kate hasn't heard from her either." Mrs. Doyle informs him, catching up to him.

"She doesn't do this." By the time Mr. Doyle finishes, Mrs. Quimby comes up to them.

"Excuse me; you're not Olive's parents are you? I'm Fletcher mom, and I hate to say it, but he's not answering his phone either."

"You're his mother?" Chris asked offensively.

"Funny how you say that like it's an accusation."

"Well, I wouldn't claim it as a source of pride since he basically kidnapped my daughter today." Chris spoke.

"Chris." Mrs. Doyle tried to stop the fight from going any further.

"How do we know skipping school today wasn't your daughter's idea?"

"My daughter..." By the time Chris said that, a car door opened then shut. They see Fletcher and Olive walking up to them. "...is right there."

Melissa and the Doyle parents walk up to them, "Where exactly have you been?" Melissa asked with anger as she sped toward them.

"We've been nowhere, mom."

"Nowhere, meaning not at school."

"Kind of," Fletcher confessed. Feeling bad for him, Olive decided to take the blame and defend him.

"It's not his fault. It's my birthday and we were..."

"Olive." Mr. Doyle boomed as soon as he got to her. "Get in the car." Suddenly, a girl scream and a growl echoes. Everyone yells as they try to get away from the mysterious screaming cause. Fletcher walks away; looking everywhere as Olive stays by her car. People rush to their car in fear as they try to get away. Fletcher worries that it might be the Alpha or Keith. She walks away, looking around when a car comes hurdling toward her. She gasps and Fletcher gets her out of the way in time.

"Are you okay?" Fletcher asked, worried that he may not have gotten her away and her legs might've hit the car. "Alright."

"Move, Move!" Sheriff grabs his gun but his leg gets hit with a car. Mr. Doyle goes to his car and grabs a gun. A gun bangs and the mysterious animal turned out to be a mountain lion.

* * *

><p><strong><em>"You've got a mouthful of diamonds and a pocketful of secrets. I know you're never telling anyone because they patterns control your mind. Those patters take away my time. Hello, goodbye." - Mouthful of Diamonds, Phantogram. <em>**


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